Talk:The Jewish Cemetery

Wiki Education assignment: Baroque Art

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 January 2023 and 19 May 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Se7enteen-century (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Nmkeith (talk) 04:53, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Notes moved to the talk page

I have moved the article development notes which were at the start of the article here, so that the article is legible for newcomers and more closely conforms to the Wikipedia Manual of Style. No changes apart from correcting the spelling of Detroit, which is what brought me here.

Some of the biographical detail below is not needed in this article, a link to Jacob van Ruisdael will suffice. ---- Mirokado (talk) 20:37, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

(Introduction)

Jacob Van Ruisdael obtained the reputation as the most prominent and influential landscapist of the age of Dutch painting in the first decade of the 19th century. In his early career, he worked as an etcher and became a versatile landscapist who could paint every classification of landscape subject.

Landscape was a popular subject throughout the Netherlands, especially in the Dutch Republic during the 17th century. In this period, known as the Gold Age, the middle class grew considerably and had extra disposable income to spend, which was majorly spent on art.

(Early Life)

Jacob Van Ruisdael's father, Isaack van Ruisdael, was also a Dutch Golden Age painter, and his uncle Solomon van Ruysdael was a landscape painter. Isaack van Ruisdael remarried after the death of his first wife, and it was speculated that Jacob might be the child of the second wife, Maycaken Cornelisdr. Learning painting from his father and uncle, Jacob van Ruisdael spent ten years studying landscapes in Germany before settling in Amsterdam. From there, he started a painting studio and trained the next generation of landscapes painter.

Jacob van Ruisdael obtains a medical degree as a surgeon.

Although there is no documentation of Jacob van Ruisdael's exact date of birth, it was noted that at the age of seventeen or eighteen, some of the earliest work made was in 1646.

In the early 1650s, Jacob van Ruisdael traveled to the Eastern provinces of Westphalia near the Dutch-German border with painter Nicolaws Berhem, exposing him to new scenery. He was introduced to water mills, mountains, rivers, Bentheim castles, and half-timbered buildings. There is no documented evidence of Jacob van Ruisdael traveling anywhere else outside of Holland.

By mid-1660, Jacob van Ruisdael moved from Haarlem to Amsterdam, where the art market was bustling and provided more significant and promising opportunities.

(Artwork)

The Jewish Cemetery was introduced in 1654 or 1655, creating an allegorical landscape depicting neglected tombstones, a run-down church, and stormy clouds with sunlight creeping in between the clouds' transience of earthly subjects, which holds symbolic meaning—a common theme in the 17th-century Dutch art.

(Subject & Symbols)

Dynamic lines and the usage of light and dark contrast within the painting

The dying nature, seen in browning, ruined buildings, rushing water, and tumultuous sky, helps create an overall dramatic effect and ability to evoke emotions and prompt thought

(Location & Context)

Depicting an actual cemetery on the outskirts of Amsterdam called Beth Haim.

Jacob van Ruisdael Cemetery, or The Jewish Cemetery, is in Detroit Institute of Arts; it disappeared for almost a century before turning up in an auction in Berlin 1925 at the Kaiser Friedrick Museums Exhibition, where it was repurchased to the Detroit Institute of Arts. In contrast, another version of the cemetery is located in Staaliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, Germany. It is said to have been painted after the one in Detroit; a third similar painting turned up in an auction in Rotterdam, Netherlands, with its present location unknown.

The painting may have been commissioned or has ownership. -- Mirokado (talk) 20:37, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

Block quotes

I had to reformat the long quote from John Smith so I could tell what was quoted and what not. Since this is related to a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment I will explain in detail what I have done and why:

• The <blockquote>...</blockquote> container is useful for long quotes, particularly if they have internal markup structure. We do not put quote marks around the blockquote and normally attribution and references go before it, as here
• Strictly speaking we should not put wikilinks inside quotes as they may interpret what the original author meant, but here they seem helpful so I have left them
• You could have a look at MOS:QUOTE
• I have moved the extra paragraph in the middle "The architecture ... setting.(ref)" below the blockquote. Not only is it not part of the quote, but it is original content with a reference rather than a quote.
• I italicised the Catalogue raisonné title to conform with MOS:NAMESANDTITLES

You are completely welcome to make further changes, of course, but please take the above comments into account. ---- Mirokado (talk) 01:19, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

More work ahead

In consort with DIAJessA, I dropped in a few lines that should point to mentions in some big-name sources in the literature.

Now, though . . .

• I think maybe the article could use some structural rearrangement, to cut down on duplication of ideas.
• The lead's material is well represented in the body, so we could slice out the citations there, perhaps.
• I wonder if perhaps too much is taken from just a few sources, and worry that a lot of verbatim from the Smarthistory site.
• In a few cases I checked, I think I found citations that led to pages that didn't actually contain the idea adduced: here too, are up for checking? I'll do my best.

All this is because for me, the page is extremely promising as one that could be top-rate. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. Johannes der Taucher (talk) 21:39, 19 December 2023 (UTC)