Title: The Halt
Date: 1661
Medium: Oil on canvas
Signed: centre right: SVR 1661 [SVR in monogram]
Credit Line: Bequeathed, Sir Henry Page Turner Barron, 1901
Object Number: NGI.507
DescriptionOne of Holland’s greatest and most prolific landscape painters, Salomon van Ruysdael is best known for his river scenes with boats sailing under a cloudy sky. In his early career, he painted mostly monochrome landscapes, which are close in style to those by Jan van Goyen. Towards the end of his life, his paintings became more colourful and classicising, perhaps due to the influence of his famous nephew Jacob van Ruisdael.
The arrival of travellers at an inn was one of Van Ruysdael’s favourite subjects, one he painted more than 30 times. This is his largest and generally considered to be his finest example. Well-dressed riders accompany three carriages, one of which displays the artist’s monogram and date. A man is relieving himself against the wall, an indecorous detail later painted over and now restored to view.
This picture belonged to Sir Henry Page Turner Barron, an Irish diplomat and collector, from whose estate the Gallery’s director, Sir Walter Armstrong, chose ten paintings, nearly all Dutch.
March 2016
ProvenanceSan Donato, Florence, 15 March 1880, Prince Demidoff sale, lot 1123; Christie's, 11 June 1881, Charles William Harrison Pickering sale, lot 158, bt. Sir Henry Page Turner Barron; bequeathed, Sir Henry Page Turner Barron, 1901
Exhibition HistoryDutch Pictures 1450-1750, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1952-1953
Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964
Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, London, 1985
From Titian to Delacroix: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, Yokohama Sogo Museum of Art, 25 August - 17 October 1993; Chiba Sogo Museum of Art, 10 November - 20 December 1993; Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, 5 January - 20 February 1994; Kobe City Museum, 25 February - 10 April 1994; Isetan Museum of Art, 14 April - 24 May 1994
European Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, Canberra, 25 June - 3 October 1994; Art Gallery of New South Wales, 21 October 1994 - 15 January 1995
Masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age, Ulster Museum, Belfast, 12 September 2019 - 26 January 2020
Label TextOne of Holland’s most prolific landscape painters, Salomon van Ruysdael is best known for his river scenes with boats sailing under a cloudy sky. In his early career, he painted mostly monochrome landscapes, which are close in style to those by Jan van Goyen. Towards the end of his life, his paintings became more colourful and classicising, perhaps due to the influence of his famous nephew Jacob van Ruisdael. The arrival of travellers at an inn was one of Van Ruysdael’s favourite subjects. This is his largest and generally considered to be his finest example.