Jacob Van Ruisdael

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The View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen is a painting by Jacob Van Ruisdael. This painting is supposed to be a depiction of his view of Haarlem. His painting “celebrates the flatlands outside Haarlem that had been reclaimed from the sea as part of a massive landfill project that the Dutch compared with God’s restoration of the Earth after Noah’s Flood” (Stockstad & Cothren, p. 766). The religious interpretation is presumed to be a reference to the prominent Gothic church called, St. Bavo. Almost three quarters of this painting shows cloudy skies, and there is tiny humans in the process of spreading white linen across the fields that can be seen towards the bottom. “This glorification of the industriousness of citizens engaged in one