The greatest of Dutch landscape artists, Jacob van Ruisdael (1628?-1682), was born in Haarlem into a family of painters. By the time he entered the local guild, in 1648, he had already produced mature and original work. From then on, he would develop as a painter of unparalleled range and emotional force, often depicting extreme terrains and types of weather. Though undoubtedly successful, he was less immediately popular than such Italianate painters as his friend Berchem, who travelled with him into Germany (c1650) and occasionally added the figures in his paintings. Following his move to Amsterdam in the mid 1650s, he accepted Hobbema as his only documented pupil. However, he had an extremely wide influence, which touched such later English painters as Thomas Gainsborough and John Constable. In evaluating the achievement of Gainsborough, Sir Joshua Reynolds cited the 'portrait-like representation of nature' produced by Ruisdael ( Reynolds, Discourses, p. 254). (For Ruskin 's opinion, see Ruskin on Ruisdael.) The National Gallery, London, holds the finest collection of Ruisdael's work (though this was not instigated until 1854).