This is domestic terrain, with a windmill, farmstead, distant village and bleaching fields, and yet Ruisdael’s depiction is grave and stern, rather than pretty. The day is blustery and the clouds substantial, creating a dark foreground and flashes of light in the middle distance. The forms, especially in the foreground, have a rough texture and jagged outline. A single figure, swathed in black, walks away from us.

Acquired by George IV in 1810, when Prince of Wales