River Landscape with Ferry

Salomon van Ruysdael

National Gallery of Art

A river spans the lower edge of this horizontal landscape painting, and winds into the distance to our right, below towering white clouds in a blue sky above. The clouds sweep up and toward us from the low horizon line, which is about a quarter of the way up the canvas. Rowboats, sailboats, and ducks dot the river to our right. The long, shallow ferry boat near the bottom center of the painting transports a pair of horses and a carriage, which is occupied by at least four seated people. More men, women, and a nursing woman fill the ferry around the carriage and animals. A herd of six cows stand at the water’s edge to the left, and two people sit nearby. Two more horse-drawn carriages filled with people head away from us. A church is visible in the middle distance through a break in the tall trees on the riverbank. Another church and buildings line the riverbank in the deep distance to our right.