Contrived Reality

Contrived reality: Weather and Geology in Jacob van Ruisdael’s painting "View of Ootmarsum"
Franz Ossing and Achim Brauer, GFZ, Germany

Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29 - 1682) was, indisputably, one of the leading Dutch masters in the 17th century. His representation of the sky over Holland and his painstaking replication of the landscape are characterised by unsurpassable precision, simultaneously rendering the mood of the said landscape in its manifold diversity.
The following text contains an analysis of his painting "View of Ootmarsum" (approx. 1670/75), whose aim is to reveal the rich detail and the precise reproduction of the meteorological and geological conditions of this swathe of land.

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