xiii JACOB VAN RUISDAEL 15 two men, one in grey and the other in red, with a man on foot and two dogs, are going up to the castle. In the middle distance a figure possibly a woman approaches them. Signed in full in the left centre with fine large letters ; canvas, 39 inches by 32^ inches. In the Munro collection, from which the dealer J. Rutley bought it for J. S. Beckett in 1859. In the collection of John Staniforth Beckett, inherited by Sir H. B. Bacon about 1890. In the collection of Sir Hickman Bacon, Bart., Gainsborough. 25. THE CASTLE OF BENTHEIM. Sm. 258. The castle, with its walls and towers, stands on a steep wooded hill in the left middle distance. On the slopes, amid the trees, is the little village of Bentheim. On a hill to the right, rather far back, is a windmill. At the foot of the hill to the right are meadows, through which flows a brook. In the immediate foreground is low ground with rich vegetation. On the extreme right lies a tree-trunk beside an almost leafless stump. The details are worked out with great care, yet the effect as a whole is im- pressive. "This capital picture has deservedly the reputation of being among the best and most esteemed works of the master" (Sm.). Signed on the left with the monogram, and dated 1653 ' canvas j 44 inches by 60 inches. Mentioned by W. Burger, Tr'esors <Part en Angleterre, p. 295. Exhibited at the British Institution, London, 1815 ; and at Manchester, 1857, No. 708. According to the tradition reported by Sm., it was painted expressly for the Count of Bentheim, in whose family it remained until the French invasion of Germany (? 1792-4), about which time it was taken to Paris and thence to England, becoming the property of William Smith, M.P. In a Bristol collection (Buchanan, ii. 360). In the collection of Thomas Kebble, Green Trees, near Tonbridge, Kent, 1835 (Sm.). Sale. London, 1856 (^1270 : IDS., Woodin for J. Walter). In the collection of John Walter, Bearwood. In the collection of Alfred Beit, London. In the collection of Otto Beit, London. 26. THE CASTLE OF BENTHEIM. On a hill to the right. The figures, which are unimportant, are by Ruisdael himself. A very good and finely lighted picture. In the collection of Lord de 1'Isle and Dudley, Penshurst Place. 27. THE CASTLE OF BENTHEIM. The castle stands to the left on a hill, up which runs a road from the left. Half-way down comes a man with a stick on his shoulder, at a point where the main road is joined by another road from the right. On this road a woman with a basket on her head, who holds a little boy by the right hand, goes away down the hill towards the right. The road leads towards the hilly land- scape a product of the painter's imagination which extends on the right
