Landscape with the Ruins of Rijnsburg Abbey

ca. 1645

Aelbert Cuyp Dutch, 1620-1691

On View

Dutch Golden Age, Level 3, South Wing

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About the Artwork

The ruins hauntingly silhouetted here against a darkening sky are those of Rijnsburg Abbey in the Netherlands, founded in 1133 as a Benedictine convent for noblewomen. Destroyed in 1573 by Spanish forces attacking Leiden, the abbey was subsequently rebuilt on a smaller scale. However, Aelbert Cuyp’s painting, made some seventy years later, still conveys the impression that Rijnsburg had remained a deserted relic of its time. This work falls into the genre of ruin pictures that was popular in the seventeenth century as a way to reflect upon the passage of time and the ephemeral quality of human achievement.

Title Landscape with the Ruins of Rijnsburg Abbey

Artwork Date ca. 1645

Artist Aelbert Cuyp

Life Dates 1620-1691

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Dutch

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 40 1/4 × 55 1/2 inches (102.2 × 141 cm) Framed: 50 × 65 × 4 1/2 inches (127 × 165.1 × 11.4 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Gift of Mrs. Lillian Henkel Haass and Mrs. Trent McMath in memory of Julius H. Haass

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 33.7

Markings

Signed Signed, at bottom, in center: A. cuyp

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

1834, Lady Hampdon (London, England)

London, auction Lady Hampdon April 16, 1834, sold by (Christie's, London, England)

1834, purchased by Mr. J. Woodin [for 105 guineas]

1922, (Galerie Van Diemen, Berlin, Germany)

Julius H. Haass (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Mrs. Lillian Henkel Haass and Mrs. Trent McMath (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

1933-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Smith, J. Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, vol. 5. London, 1834, no. 258, pp 358-359. and Supplement, London, 1842, no. 42, p. 662.

Hofstede de Groot, C. Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol. 2. London, 1908, p. no. 319.

Exhibition of Old Masters. Exh. cat., Kunstverein. Dusseldorf, June 1928, no. 13.

Ninth Loan Exhibition of Dutch Genre and Landscape Painting of the Seventeenth Century. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts, 1929, p. xiii, cat. 18.

Holmes, J. "The Cuyps in America." Art In America 18, no. 4 (June 1930) p. 169 (ill.).

Richardson, E.P., ed. Detroit Institute of Arts Catalogue of Paintings. Detroit, 1944, p. 35, no. 501.

Glasbergen, W. and H.H.van Regteren Altena. "De Abdij van Rijnsburg: Opgravingen in 1960/61 en 1963/64 (Voorlopige mededeling)." Leids jaarboekje 57 (1965): pp. 144-157.

Mauritshuis, Landschappen 17de Eeuw. The Hague, 1980, pp. 21-23, cited in footnote 5 under inv. 822. [Landscape with the Ruins of Rijnsburg Abbey.]

Chong, A. "New Dated Works from Aelbert Cuyp's Early Career." Burlington Magazine 133 (1991): pp. 606-612.

Wissman, F.W. European Vistas: Cultural Landscapes. Detroit, 2000, pp. 77-78 (ill.).

Bandes, Susan J. Pursuits and Pleasures: Baroque Paintings from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Dennos Museum Center, Kalamazoo Art Museum, Kresge Art Museum, Muskegon Museum of Art. Battle Creek, 2003, pp. 10, 18-19 (ill.).

Keyes, George S. et al. Masters of Dutch Painting: The Detroit Institute of Arts. London, 2004, pp. 60–61, no. 21 (ill.).

Time and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art. Exh. cat., Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, et al. Poughkeepsie, 2005, pp. 55, 132-133, cat. 11 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Aelbert Cuyp, Landscape with the Ruins of Rijnsburg Abbey, ca. 1645, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Lillian Henkel Haass and Mrs. Trent McMath in memory of Julius H. Haass, 33.7.