English: Catalogue Entry:

Although Salomon van Ruysdael was active in the city of Haarlem, he painted many views of Dordrecht. The low vantage point, addressing the subject straight on, signals a new attitude toward landscape, a change from the conceptual bird’s-eye to an empirical, immersed view. In 1572 the first organizational meeting of the Revolt of the Netherlands was held in Dordrecht, and the Prince of Orange was chosen to lead the independent nation. Paintings of the city probably carried patriotic meaning, alluding to allegiance to the Dutch nation and specifically to the House of Orange. As if to make this clear, several Dutch flags appear prominently in the foreground, on ships.

Gallery Label:

Ruysdael painted this view of Dordrecht less than a quartercentury after the end of the Eighty Years’ War of Dutch Independence. The buildings rise above the River Thure, the major artery that links central Holland to the North Sea. Dordrecht served as a symbol for the new Dutch nation, for it was there that representatives from all of the Dutch cities except Amsterdam convened in 1572, at the Assembly of the Free States, to vote for independence. Three years later, the Dutch constitution was ratifi ed there. From the ships in the foreground fl ying the new Dutch Republic’s orange, white, and green tricolor to the massive church toward the center, Ruysdael’s painting demonstrates the close association seventeenth-century Dutch audiences found between the physical landscape and national identity.