xin JACOB VAN RUISDAEL 251 the centre of the middle distance. The side turned to the spectator has fallen into ruin ; on the left rises a high chimney. Near the house stands a horseman, seen from the back. To the left of him a man holds his grey horse ; a dog crouches near. In the centre foreground a boy sits on the ruined wall. To the right, beyond the house, is another house, with a meadow in front. To the left is a view over a flat landscape. The figures are, very doubtfully, attributed to Ph. Wouwerman. Canvas on panel, 16^ inches by 20 inches. Exhibited at Manchester, 1857. Then in the collection of Dr. Barton. Sale. Prince Demidoff, San Donate, March 15, 1880, No. 1133. In the Boston Museum. 797. LANDSCAPE; A RIVER WITH A BRIDGE. Sm. 174. In the centre foreground a little stream, flowing from the middle distance and bending to the right, forms a waterfall. Over the river in front is a wooden bridge, on which are three cows, sheep, goats, and a dog barking at a cow. Beyond the bridge, where a road forks, a horseman in red with a brown hat, seen from the back, rides a dappled grey horse ; he stretches out his right hand, as if asking the way from a shepherd standing to his left. Behind him, to the right, another horseman in brown, seen in profile to the right, rides a dun horse ; he looks at the first rider. One road leads from this point to the left round a rock ; on it are two men with a flock of sheep. The other road leads to the right up a wooded hill to a sunlit glade in which sits a shepherd with his sheep. A man with a bundle on his back walks up the road, with his dog gambolling at his side. In the right foreground is the stump of a beech j the stem lies beside it. In the middle distance a stone bridge with two arches crosses the river ; on the farther bank are many houses, with hills beyond. The figures are appar- ently by A. van de Velde. " A splendid work of art " (Sm.). Signed in full on the right at foot ; canvas, 53 inches by 71 inches. Sales. The dowager Madame Boreel, Amsterdam, September 23, 1814, No. 17 (5505 florins, Nieuwenhuys). Le Rouge, Paris, April 27, 1818 (29,700 francs). In the collection of the Prince of Orange, Brussels, 1835 (Sm.). Sale. William II., King of Holland, The Hague, August 12, 1850, No. 94 (12,900 florins, E. le Roy). In the Brussels Museum, 1906 catalogue, No. 397. 798. COTTAGES. In front is a little watercourse, to which a road with deep ruts leads from the middle distance. Along the road come a man and a boy. Farther back a man and a woman stand conversing. To the right of the road are the gable ends of three sheds. On the threshold of the nearest shed sits a woman in white ; behind her stands a man in a red jacket. In front of the shed are a tree and a dog. To the left of the road the ground rises. In front are stones and tree-trunks. In the middle distance, in sunlight, is a lofty house with a fenced garden and high trees to the left. To the left of the house, and far back, is a cottage with a wall. To the right of the fence, in the distance, is a cottage almost hidden by trees. A great white cloud in the blue sky.
