View of Haarlem from the Northwest, with the Bleaching Fields in the Foreground

From the series One hundred masterpieces
View of Haarlem from the Northwest, with the Bleaching Fields in the Foreground Jacob Isaacksz van Ruisdael (c. 1628–1682), oil on canvas, c. 1650–1682

You look at Haarlem from atop a dune. Ruisdael leads your eye zigzagging through the environs to the Sint-Bavokerk towering above everything else in the distance. Why did he use such a low horizon?

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