On a hill overlooking a river looms the Valkhof, a medieval fortress built on ancient foundations in the Dutch city of Nijmegen, near the German border. Salomon van Ruysdael likely based his view on more muted examples by his friendly rival Jan van Goyen. Here, bright colors animate the billowing clouds and soft light reflected on the water, placidly interrupted by fishing boats and a ferry. Painted in 1648, when the Dutch Republic secured independence from Spain, the landscape depicts a site the Dutch proudly associated with the triumphant revolt of their ancestors, the Batavians, against the Roman Empire.
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