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JACOB VAN RUISDAEL (1628-1682) THE QUAY AT AMSTERDAM Canvas, 21 1/2 inches by 26 inches ON the foreground is the Dam; on the right is the Weigh-house, half cut off by the frame. The broad canal called the Damrak is in the centre, with the Papenbrug crossing it in the background. On both sides are rows of houses; above them, to the right, rises the tower of the Oude Kerk. In the square in front ladies and gentlemen walk up and down. Sailing ships lie at the Quay to right and left; white sails are seen in the distance above the bridge. Blue sky with clouds. Signed at the bottom right-hand corner. From the Maurice Kann Collection. Exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1910. Etched by Rouveyre.. Sale, Baron de Beuronville, Paris, May 9. 1881, No. 450. In the possession of the Paris dealer, C. Seidelmeyer, "Catalogue of 300 Paintings, " 1898, No. 182. Mentioned by de Groote, Catalogue of Dutch Painters, IV, p. 10. "Jacob van Ruisdael was destined to be the greatest exponent of landscape art, the aster at whose feet all posterity have sat for guidance and inspiration, through whom Constable became the bright glory of English landscape painting, as Constable again let his mantle fall on the Barbizon group, of whom the men of to-day have been disciples. But Ruisdael was the first. As Rembrandt by a flash of his will brought forth the glory of chiaroscuro, do Ruisdael was the first to interpret the harmonious chords, major and minor, of nature's symphony, and infuse his own soul subjectively into the interpretation," Preyer's Art of the Netherland Galleries. 21 GS