Sandy Track in the Dunes

A sandy cart track winds through low dunes toward distant trees, a few figures and cattle along the way beneath a light, broken sky. Jacob van Ruisdael painted this small, tranquil landscape about 1650–55, not long after turning from the dune scenes of his youth to the broader and more monumental views for which he became famous. The quiet path, the dry sand and grasses in warm tones, and the unforced order of the composition already show the extraordinary feeling for the Dutch countryside that would make him the greatest landscapist of the Golden Age.