ake way, Monet. There's a new masterpiece in town. Edge of a Forest with a Grainfield, painted by 17th-century Dutch landscapist Jacob van Ruisdael, will hang amid Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn and other revered Dutch artists in the Kimbell Art Museum's permanent (and always free to see) collection starting this month.
The Kimbell scooped up the painting - a substantial piece featuring massive oaks, meandering water and billowing clouds set against a cerulean sky - from Worcester College at Oxford last month for an estimated $14-plus million. The school sold it to fund new student housing, according to British daily newspaper The Sunday Times. It had owned the piece since 1811.
The acquisition effectively doubles the Kimbell's Ruisdael inventory, which also includes seascape A Rough Sea at a Jetty.
For the uninitiated, Ruisdael was a prolific painter who favored woodland scenes. In fact, it was the Dutchman's proclivity with trees - and, more specifically, their foliage - that helped earn him his stripes as a great master.
Although a triumph for the Kimbell, the deal is kindling some heat overseas. Many in the UK maintain the work was part of the country's national heritage and, thus, shouldn't have been up for grabs. "The sale of such a work is thought to be unprecedented for an Oxbridge college," The Times reported in March. "It felt it had no alternative way of paying off loans for the construction of more than 120 new and refurbished rooms for its students."
That it wasn't referred to the British government's export review committee before being shipped across the pond, "surprised some experts," The Times wrote. "One said it was "amazing" no attempt had been made to stop such an important work going overseas."
But while the Brits are feeling a bit bruised by its departure, we have to admit we're pretty pleased to have such a prodigious painting here at home. Not only is it a stunning exemplar of Ruisdael's incredible bent with the brush, but now that it's on public display in a world-class venue, thousands will finally have the chance to see Edge of a Forest with a Grainfield in all its glory.
