“The Wake Mill” is firmly in the top three paintings that the Dutch consider their national symbols. The picture of Reisdal captures the tiny town of Wake, located a few miles southeast of Utrecht.
In this town you can still see the old windmill. You can even amuse yourself with the thought that it is similar to the “very” mill, although, alas, only the remnants of the foundation remained from the “one”. Surprisingly, Reisdal rarely wrote windmills. And this is despite the fact that they were the “trademark” of Holland.
The meticulous researchers estimated that Reisdal had depicted windmills only 15 times, and he had created most of these paintings at the beginning of his career. However, the master wrote his best mill, “The Mill in Wake,” at a mature age. The composition of this picture is sustained in a typical manner for the Ruysdael. The low angle chosen by him makes the outlines of the mill and other buildings somewhat blurry, and from this it seems that they are about to melt in the inhospitable sky covered with gray clouds.
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