During the seventeenth century, landscape paintings became very popular in the Netherlands and other parts of Europe, and Jacob van Ruisdael (1628–1682) was a leading landscape painter of the time. His landscapes are often dark and moody, and he preferred woodland scenes and coastal views populated with shadowy architectural structures. Examples of his expressive landscapes include The Jewish Cemetery (1655–1660), Bentheim Castle (c. 1650), and Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede (1660).