Salomon van Ruysdael was originally called Salomon de Gooyer (meaning of Gooieland) but he and his brother Isaack, also an artist, adopted the name ‘Ruysdael’ from Castle Ruisdael, near their father’s home town, which was possibly once in the family’s possession. Jacob van Ruisdael, the other famous landscape painter, was Salomon’s nephew. Salomon entered the Guild of Saint Luke in Haarlem in 1623. His earliest known dated painting is of 1626. Two years later he was praised as a landscape painter by the chronicler Samuel van Ampzing in his description of Haarlem. It is not known with whom Ruysdael trained but his early works show the influence of Esaias van de Velde who worked in Haarlem from 1609 to 1618. Ruysdael is known as a leading landscape specialist, although later in life he painted some still lifes as well. In addition to painting, Ruysdael had a career as a merchant, dealing in blue dye for the Haarlem bleacheries. Nevertheless, his son Jacob became a painter.