Farmhouses on a High Road
about 1658–166022 13/16 x 26 7/8 in. (57.94 x 68.26 cm)
Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628-1629–1682)
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Bequest of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft
Accession Number:
1931.391
Currently on View in:
Virtue & Vice (6)
Exhibition History
New York. Scott and Fowles, 1914.Cincinnati, Ohio. Taft Museum of Art. In a New Light: Treasures from the Taft, July 3, 2021–May 1, 2022.
Gallery Label
Rustic cottages stand below a turbulent sky. A large puddle reflects the houses and a peasant woman and child walking along the muddy road. A man in a red shirt looks out from a doorway, and near the stairs, logs and stone blocks suggest the labor of common people. Jacob van Ruisdael saw half-timbered buildings like these while traveling in Bad Bentheim, Germany, near the eastern border of the Netherlands. In this imagined scene, Ruisdael also included Bentheim Castle, its tower visible behind the houses.
Provenance
Acquired by Marin, Paris; purchased by J.B.P. Lebrun, March 22, 1790 (stock no. 128); (purchased by Naudou, February 3, 1813 (stock no. 169)). Acquired by R. de Verdier, Général Laneuville; purchased by Féréol Bonnemaison in Paris, 1816 (stock no. 69); probably purchased by Alexander Baring, first baron Ashburton, by 1835; by descent to Francis Denzil Edward Baring, fifth Baron Ashburton, The Grange, Alresford, Hants. (Acquired by Agnew's, London, 1907). (Acquired by Scott and Fowles, New York, NY, by January 1908); purchased by Charles Phelps Taft [1843-1929] and Anna Sinton Taft [1850-1931], Cincinnati, OH, January 10, 1910; donated to the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts, Cincinnati, OH, May 21, 1927 [1]; transferred to the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH, September 1, 2006 [2]. Notes:
[1]. The Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts (CIFA) was formed by Charles Phelps and Anna Sinton Taft on March 22, 1927 as a non-profit corporation to stimulate the development of art and music in the City of Cincinnati and run the Taft Museum of Art, which opened in 1932. The Tafts offered $1 million for a permanent endowment fund, on the condition that the community raise $2.5 million in matching funds, which was achieved by December 3, 1928. [2]. Until August 31, 2006, the Museum was owned by CIFA, administered by CIFA’s Board of Trustees, and governed by the Taft Museum Board of Overseers. On September 1, 2006, the Museum legally separated from CIFA and began operations as its own incorporated 501(c)(3) entity. This separate incorporation led to the transfer to the separate entity after August 31, 2006 of all tangible assets comprising the Taft collection.
Collection Lists
This artwork is in the following list(s):
