A View of Deventer seen from the North-West

Salomon van Ruysdael lived and worked in Haarlem, yet in 1657 he signed and dated this view of Deventer, a city far to the east on the river IJssel. It is early morning. The city sits low in the mist on the far bank, and you can pick out the round Noordenbergtoren among the windmills and the tall, tiered tower of the Grote Kerk. Ruysdael has shifted several buildings slightly from where they really stand, so the skyline keeps an even rhythm. Three small boats working as ferries lean into the wind as they head upriver towards the rising sun, their passengers packed in against the chill. Close to us a fisherman in a rowing boat holds a dragnet, its corks bobbing on the water. The net runs back to a boat pulled up on a grassy spit, and the painter's signature is on one of its slats.