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How did Jacob van Ruisdael use clouds and sky to set the mood in Dutch landscapes?

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van de Velde, Adriaen: River Landscape in the Late Afternoon — Landscape painting *River Landscape in the Late Afternoon*, oil on canvas by Adriaen van de Velde, 1663; in a private collection.

In Jacob van Ruisdael’s landscape painting, the sky serves as a primary tool for establishing mood and emotional depth. Ruisdael frequently depicted the flat Dutch countryside under vast, expansive skies dominated by massed, often ominous clouds that occupy half or more of the canvas.123

These dramatic, "leaden" skies were central to his Baroque style, allowing him to infuse his compositions with a sense of monumentality and atmospheric intensity. By pairing these imposing heavens with low, distant horizons, Ruisdael created a visual contrast that emphasized the scale of nature in relation to humanity. This technique often imbued his scenes with a somber or reflective tone, sometimes suggesting themes regarding the transience of temporal things or the overwhelming power of the natural world.431