Forest with Rider and Dogs
1625 - 1630. Oil on panel.On display elsewhere
This painting entered the Museum as an original by Jacob Isaaksz. van Ruisdael (1628-1682), an attribution that remained in the catalogue until 1972. Valdivieso (1973) believed it to be connected with Johan de Lagoor (1618/27-1660). However, the restoration carried out for this catalogue has revealed the signature of Cornelis Hendricksz. Vroom.
Between two compact masses of holm oaks, a path leads off into the horizon. Moving through the trees on the left there is a figure on horseback, perhaps a hunter, following the two greyhounds racing across the path in the background. This is the kind of forest landscape typically cultivated by Cornelis Vroom. Trees cover most of the picture surface. Light from the background filters in through the trunks and small overhanging branches, creating a feeling of great spatial depth. The colour is applied with small, thick brushstrokes, and there are hardly any glazes.
Vroom rarely dated his works, which makes it difficult to order them chronologically. The balanced compositional arrangement, the meticulous detail of the foliage and the attention to delicate light effects would suggest this landscape was painted in the second half of the 1620s (Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado. 2009, p. 317).
