View of the Plain of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds

View of the Plain of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds, a painting by Jacob van Ruisdael, dates from 1660-1663. It is housed in the Museum of Fine Arts and measures 0.45 meters in width and 0.362 meters in height.

The painting depicts a wide, expansive landscape dominated by a vast, flat plain stretching to the horizon. The sky takes up a significant portion of the canvas, filled with a multitude of fluffy, cumulus clouds against a pale blue backdrop. The clouds are rendered with a detailed attention to light and shadow, creating a sense of depth and atmospheric perspective.

In the foreground, the viewer's perspective is from a slightly elevated position, looking down upon a series of fields where linen is being bleached. Small figures of people are visible, working in these fields, indicating the scale of the landscape. The fields are organized in a geometric pattern, suggesting a planned and cultivated environment. Closer to the viewer, there is a cluster of small houses and buildings, nestled amongst some trees, providing a sense of human habitation within the larger landscape. The buildings are rendered with a level of detail that contrasts with the more generalized depiction of the distant landscape.

In the middle ground, a line of trees separates the foreground from the more distant parts of the plain. Beyond the trees, the landscape continues to recede, culminating in a distant view of the city of Haarlem, which is depicted as a collection of buildings and a church spire on the horizon. The city is rendered with less detail than the foreground, further emphasizing the atmospheric perspective.

The overall style of the painting is characteristic of Dutch landscape painting of the 17th century, with its emphasis on realistic depiction, atmospheric perspective, and the integration of human activity within the natural world. The painting's surface shows some craquelure (cracking of the paint), which is a common feature of older paintings.