xiii JACOB VAN RUISDAEL 275 895. WOODED DUNES. In front, a road leads to the right. On the right side of it sits a peasant, with his bundle and stick beside him. In the centre are high oaks and beeches sheltering a cottage. To the left is a pool ; on one bank stands a workman conversing with two seated figures ; on the opposite bank are trees. In the distance is a church tower. The figures are by an unknown hand. There is little green in the foliage, which has been much worked on with the mahl-stick. The foreground seems to be unfinished. Nevertheless, this fine picture is much more free and unaffected in style than the pictures of the following year (such as 896). It is hardly credible that it should be the work of a boy of seventeen. [Compare 106.] Signed in full almost in the centre at foot, and dated 1646 ; canvas, 42 inches by 65 inches. In the Hermitage Palace, St. Petersburg, 1901 catalogue, No. 1143. 896. DUNES, WITH A COTTAGE. A sandy road, in full sun- light in the centre, leads from the right foreground to the centre of the middle distance. In the right middle distance is a clump of bushes with a high tree ; to the right of them is a cottage, with a woman standing at the door. On the road in front a peasant in a red jacket rests with his dog beside him. A peasant with a boy goes down the road to a cottage in the left distance ; to right and left of it are trees which close the view. The figures and the sky, especially at the top to the left, are very unlike Ruisdael. The catalogue has no reason for suggesting that the scene is in the neighbourhood of Groningen. [Compare 106.] Signed in full at foot in the centre, and dated 1647 ; panel, 21 inches by 25 inches. Engraved by Martini, 1771, and finished by Le Bas, and by J. J. de Boissieu. In the collection of Comte de Baudouin, Paris. In the Hermitage Palace, St. Petersburg, 1901 catalogue, No. 1148. 897. DUNES. A traveller with a dog comes down a road. Brilliantly clear sky. It reminds one of 885 (Haarlem). It is very well painted, strong, firm and bright, with good tones in the shadow. It is of excep- tionally good quality for the early period, and is very well preserved. Panel, 13^ inches by 19^ inches. Sale. Lyne Stephens, London, May n, 1895, No. 344 (31 5). In the collection of John G. Johnson, Philadelphia. 898. A SANDY ROAD. In the centre foreground a watercourse reflects the blue sky with light clouds as well as the green foliage of the trees. From the water a road leads away ; on it are two travellers with a dog, and a third man beyond. To the right are high trees and thick underwood ; to the left are a few trees also. In the distance are dunes. Blue sky with light clouds. Very dark but good. The catalogue dates it about 1667. The same theme is treated on a much larger scale in 521. Canvas, 16 inches by 17 inches. In the collection of F. J. O. Boymans, Utrecht. In the Boymans Museum, Rotterdam, 1907 catalogue, No. 263. 899. [Identical with 525.]
