Why it matters
Tombs in the Portuguese-Jewish cemetery of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel lie beneath a stormy sky and a ruined church, with a dead tree and a rainbow. Ruisdael turned the scene into an allegory of death and hope.
Did you know?
- Ruisdael painted two versions, in 1653 and 1655, in his mid-twenties.
- It is twice the size of a typical 17th-century landscape.
- The Detroit Institute of Arts acquired it in 1926.
Based on the Wikipedia article The Jewish Cemetery (CC BY-SA 4.0).
