This beautiful landscape is dominated by a wooden structure, just outside a village centre. It is an overtoom, a fine example of Dutch ingenuity.
Since the beginning of the 17th century, such constructions have been used to tow vessels out of the water over the dike. This bridged the height difference between two waterways without the intervention of a lock. To the left of the overtoom, several figures can be seen, who are probably waiting for the moment when their boat is towed over the dike.
oil on canvas, 120 x 169 cm
One of the pillars of the economy of the Republic was the extremely efficient network of towpaths. There was a timetable of several departures per day between the various cities. Food, peat, sand, letters and people were transported at a speed of five kilometers per hour.
Anton Mauve had a depressive disposition, but he could always cheer up his friends: “Come on man, no nonsense, you can do it, you are on the right track, a clear head, a cheerful disposition, a nice cigar lit, the sketchbook under your arm and then out into the lovely countryside, that is all we need.”
oil on canvas, 35 x 32 cm
legacy of Mr. JBAM Westerwoudt, Haarlem
Maris painted this high bridge near his home in The Hague. The olive-coloured lichens on the stones of the bridge form a beautiful contrast with the orange tiled roofs further on. The sand skipper is lighting a pipe and the woman on the left is carrying a yoke with two milk buckets.
oil on canvas, 42 x 74 cm
legacy of Mr. CD Reich
Johannes G. Vogel was a pupil of Andreas Schelfhout. He remarried in 1892 with the painter Margaretha Roosenboom, granddaughter of Schelfhout. Vogel's landscapes are relatively unknown to the general public. The strikingly elongated format of the painting emphasises the horizontal character of the landscape.
oil on canvas, 31 x 69 cm
donation from HPMA Vogel - Molenkamp, Haarlem
Gabriël painted outdoors in the area around Kortenhoef until old age; the lakes, the mills, the reeds and the pollard willows. This area is named after him: 'The land of Gabriel'.
The Kortenhoefse Plassen are now managed by Natuurmonumenten. 'The land of Gabriel' is still clearly recognizable since it was painted.
oil on canvas, 29 x 47 cm
legacy of Mr. JBAM Westerwoudt, Haarlem
Until the middle of the 19th century, the canal barge remained the most popular form of public transport in the Netherlands. Thanks to an extensive network of towpaths through the flat, water-rich parts of the Netherlands, travel was easy and cheap. In a turning basin, a widening of the waterway, such as here in the towpath between The Hague and Leiden, a ship that was too wide could be turned 'by swinging' with a lot of steering skill.
oil on panel, 40 x 50 cm
From the end of the 1850s, Willem Roelofs worked a lot in polders south of Amsterdam. The river Gein (between Abcoude and Driemond) was, as later with Piet Mondriaan, a favorite. Roelofs had a good eye for nature and was a master in depicting cloudy skies and their reflection in the water. The beauty of this landscape was already a reason to advocate for its preservation at the beginning of the 20th century. Paintings like this have certainly contributed to the call for preservation. Several parts of the river are now protected nature reserves.
oil on canvas, 45 x 68 cm
legacy of Mr. JBAM Westerwoudt, Haarlem
Centuries of peat extraction and erosion created large areas of water near Loosdrecht. A product of human activity! The reed beds, vistas and reflections in the water made these lakes an ideal environment for Willem Roelofs. According to the inscription 'effet de matin' he painted this work in the early morning. He captured the water landscape and the passing rowing boat in beautiful morning light on canvas.
oil on canvas on panel
30 x 45 cm legacy of Mr. CD Reich
A historic moment: The ship De Eendraght returns from a voyage of discovery to Cape Horn.
Around the ship sail the Statenjacht and other barges. A lively scene from 1617 with many ships in front of the village of IJsselmonde, near Rotterdam. After the fall of Antwerp in 1585, the Northern Netherlands made good use of their location on rivers and the sea. A flourishing economy was the result. In 1591, Aert Anthonisz's parents moved from Antwerp to Amsterdam. There he became famous.
This painting by Anthonisz. once hung in the famous art cabinet of butter merchant Sybren Bos from Harlingen.
oil on panel, 42 x 80 cm
Aert van der Neer had a predilection for imaginary rivers in the Dutch landscape at dusk and moonlight. In this winter view, life on the ice in the foreground stands out colorfully against the gray-blue distance, where river and sky meet. Ice fun for young and old, rich and poor. Van der Neer could not live from the proceeds of his paintings and died in poverty.
The Hermitage in St. Petersburg has many of his works. The Rijksmuseum has eleven paintings by Van der Neer.
oil on panel, 51 x 66 cm
In the vast river landscape, two church towers and a mill can be seen on the horizon. On the banks, traps hang to dry and in the middle the catch is brought in by the fisherman. The tranquil landscape can be startled at any moment by a shot from the hunter. Short-eared owl and black-tailed godwit have already died.
oil on panel, 24 x 33 cm
With a great sense of atmosphere and drama, and with bravado, Rotterdammer Hendrick Sorgh painted sailing ships on the Maas in heavy weather. The listing ships far away and close by, the white-lit foaming waves under an impressively threatening sky with large thunderheads leave nothing to the imagination. The Maas is a river to be reckoned with.
As impressive as they may look in a painting, rivers have washed away entire villages in the past. And in our time, the Netherlands is once again struggling with flooding riverbeds, threatening villages and towns, due to climate change.
oil on panel, 48 x 65 cm
legacy of L. Dupper Wzn., Dordrecht
On his many journeys, Jan van Goyen sketched everything he liked and could use in his paintings. As was customary in the 17th century, he placed topographical details in an imaginary landscape without batting an eyelid. Recognizable is the tower of Saint Pol, part of Batestein Castle in Vianen.
Much attention is paid to an impressive cloudy sky and numerous narrative details, such as a farmer milking cows on the bank and the transport of people - and even a horse-drawn carriage - across the water.
oil on panel, 65 x 97 cm
donation from Mrs. S. van Embden Bonnist, Mamaroneck
Jeronymus van Diest was a follower of painter Jan van Goyen. He learned the craft of painting from his father, the marine painter Willem van Diest.
Jeronymus van Diest lived and worked his entire life in The Hague, where he was active in the civil guard and the guild. In this painting of a loaded ferry on a wide, slow Dutch river, a peaceful calm prevails.
oil on panel, 32 x 37 cm
The painter was not concerned with a topographically correct representation. Droochsloot wanted to display the activity on both river banks. Zigzagging from left to right, he shows a multitude of details, stories and small anecdotes.
oil on panel, 57 x 87 cm
legacy of AAM Sträter, Amsterdam
Rowing boats and sailing ships sail on the IJssel near Deventer. On the right, a few houses and a church tower can be seen between the trees, in the vague distance the contours of the city with the striking St. Nicholas Church. Salomon van Ruysdael's river views are a visual ode to the naturalness with which the Dutch deal with water.
oil on canvas, 110 x 151 cm
donation from Mr HWA Deterding, London
Willem Roelofs was a great lover of nature. Besides being a painter, he was also a specialist in snout beetles. When he was abroad, he always felt homesick for the Dutch water and land.
oil on canvas on panel, 25 x 46 cm
legacy of Mr. and Mrs. Drucker-Fraser, Montreux
Vincent van Gogh was struck by the 'knollen' he saw in a painting by his teacher Mauve. He wrote to his brother Theo: “They'll have to drag the heavy barge the last bit […] – Just stand still for a moment, they're panting, they're sweaty but […] they don't complain – about anything.”
oil on canvas on panel
29 x 45 cm donation from GP Rouffaer, Deventer
Although destined to become a businessman, Hendrik Willem Mesdag developed into a prominent artist, collector and leader of the Hague School. He mainly painted seascapes and the lives of Scheveningen fishermen.
Until 1903, this coastal town had no harbour and fishing boats left from the beach. Mesdag rented a room with a view of the sea. His painting shows the moment when the ships are still at anchor and are being prepared for departure. On the beach, the fishermen's wives gather to wave goodbye to their husbands and sons.
oil on canvas, 116 x 80 cm
donation from Mr. and Mrs. Drucker-Fraser, Montreux
Isaac Israels is the painter of daily life in the big city, the shops, the fashion studios, the cafes. He painted portraits, nudes and beach scenes. Israels is considered the most important impressionist painter of the Netherlands.
The young woman in this painting is unknown to us.
oil on cardboard, 61 x 45 cm
legacy of Mr. and Mrs. Drucker-Fraser, Montreux
Donkey riding was a popular pastime on the beach of Scheveningen. Around 1820, tourism slowly started in this first Dutch seaside resort with a small bathhouse. After the opening of the Kurhaus in 1885, Scheveningen grew into a fashionable seaside resort.
oil on cardboard, 46 x 61 cm
legacy of Mr. and Mrs. Drucker-Fraser, Montreux
Esselens was an Amsterdam merchant in silk and velvet. He employed several weavers and traveled throughout Europe. As a painter, Esselens was self-taught. In the foreground of his painting, a man and a woman are buying fish on the beach.
oil on canvas, 42 x 51 cm
A bomschuit is a ship that can land on the beach. Scheveningen did not yet have a harbour when Maris painted this. The barge was almost an excuse for Maris to indulge in painting air and water. The painting was created in his studio, where the artist had stable working conditions. His statement was: “One had to exaggerate to learn the power of colours.”
oil on canvas, 101 x 90 cm
donation from Mrs. WCS Drucker - de Koning, The Hague
In the sketchily depicted surf of the North Sea, two men fish for shells with scoop nets. Their catch is collected in the ready-made carts. The shells were destined for the lime kilns where they were burned in bottle-shaped lime kilns to make shell lime. This lime was used in construction.
oil on canvas, 115 x 128 cm
donation from Mr. and Mrs. Drucker-Fraser, Montreux
The North Sea beach is painted with accurate brushstrokes. Beach and water merge almost seamlessly and at the dividing line between the two a shell fisherman practices his trade.
With powerful strokes the man fishes the shells from the surf and then throws them into his waiting cart.
oil on canvas, 49 x 91 cm
donation from Mr. and Mrs. Drucker-Fraser, Montreux
Jan Toorop liked to paint on the beach in Domburg. He said about this: “The sea and the beach always remind me of my country of origin. As a little boy I played on the beach of Java with my brother and sister. Our mother taught us to swim.
In Domburg I sometimes remembered those images too.” (Henny van Kesteren: An inspired Javanese, 2016; p.119)
In many coastal towns the shells were fished up in the surf of the sea for lime extraction. In Domburg the shell fisherman sold his shells to farmers who used them to harden their yards.
oil on canvas, 40 x 32 cm
donation from Mr. and Mrs. Kessler - Hülsmann, Kapelle op den Bosch
According to Joost Zwagerman, Weissenbruch did not make landscapes but 'skyscapes'. Weissenbruch himself once claimed that the cloudy skies in his paintings are 'a thing among things'.
This small painting shows the Dutch coast of 150 years ago: a strip of sand, a strip of sea and lots of clouds. No bathers, but a fisherman.
oil on panel, 18 x 25 cm
legacy of Mrs. TL Laue - Drucker, The Hague
Wijnand Nuijen is an outsider in Dutch art history. A painter with a romantic disposition, who died very young. In his time he was considered very promising. For example, King Wilhelm II bought six paintings by Nuijen.
oil on panel, 62 x 84 cm
The salutes of the ship of the line on the right will be heard at the Zuidertoren in the city. Distinguished gentlemen on a state yacht smoke a Gouda pipe.
The glass is raised, perhaps to the arrival of the crowded merchant ship. The Dutch flag flies prominently in the middle. A boy in a sloop seems surprised by a school of bottlenose dolphins off the coast.
Herring brought Enkhuizen great prosperity and was also important food for the dolphins that lived in the Zuiderzee. The painter has put his signature on a sloop: 'A. Storck'.
Abraham Storck was a colleague of Ludolf Bakhuysen. He lived in the Tuinstraat in the Amsterdam Jordaan.
oil on canvas, 86 x 118 cm
Mesdag is the undisputed master painter of the North Sea. His love for the sea blossomed in 1868 during a stay on the German Wadden Island of Norderney.
From that moment on, beaches and seascapes will be among the main subjects of his paintings. When he establishes his international reputation as a painter, he proudly declares: “The sea is mine.”
oil on canvas, 123 x 98 cm
donation from MC Baroness van Lynden - van Pallandt, The Hague
A turbulent sea with stormy skies strongly appealed to the 19th century Dutchman. The battle against the water was the constant in the history of the country. Shipping was the pride of the nation. Johannes C. Schotel from Dordrecht devoted himself entirely to painting ships at sea. He was also a sailor himself. On the gigantic painting a warship can be seen on the left, in the foreground a Blankenberge barge.
The painter has put his name on the bottom right of the cutter's stern: 'JC Schotel'.
oil on canvas, 160 x 220 cm
This flood medal commemorates the dramatic course of the flood disaster in the southwest of the Netherlands on February 1, 1953.
On 6 November 1953, the last tidal gap at Ouwerkerk on Schouwen-Duiveland was closed. In the Netherlands, 1836 people died. The disaster led to the construction of the Delta Works.
inscription obverse: 1 FEB. '53;
inscription on reverse: 6 NOV. '53 IJP
Ludolf Bakhuysen was one of the most popular marine painters in the Republic. He proudly flies the Dutch flag on the warship. The flag is a medium for identification, typically Dutch. In the paintings of other European naval powers such as Venice, Spain and England, the flag is much less prominent.
oil on canvas, 68 x 81 cm
loan from the municipality of Amsterdam (legacy A. van der Hoop)
On the Texel roadstead, ships from the Zuiderzee area waited for favorable winds to sail out. Ships with too great a draught transferred their goods here to ships that were more suitable for the shallow Zuiderzee. The Gouden Leeuw was one of the ships on the roadstead. Military personnel and civilians can be seen in the foreground.
oil on canvas, 92 x 140 cm
Petrus J. Schotel is the son of the famous marine painter Johannes C. Schotel. Petrus Johannes is not only a painter, but also a drawing instructor for the Royal Institute for the Navy in Medemblik. With his experience, he can portray the sails convincingly. You can almost hear them flapping in the wind.
On the left is a fishing boat depicted, which the anchovy fishermen from Bergen op Zoom sailed in the 19th century.
oil on canvas, 73 x 91 cm
Pieter Mulier specialized in painting seascapes with wild waves and threatening skies. On the right, a sea buoy is floating in the water, marking the shipping channel. The flag of the city of Hoorn, which was located on the Zuiderzee at the time, is flying in the mast of the ship.
The storm gives Mulier the opportunity to increase the drama in his painting with dark, threatening skies. This will certainly have helped sell his canvas, because dramatic seascapes were popular in the Golden Age.
oil on panel, 39 x 60 cm
Everyday activity on the water is vividly depicted here. Men in a sloop resist the swell of the waves as they moor at the pier. Fishing boats sail back and forth. A sloop sails to a return fleet. The mainsail is being hauled in on a merchant ship. There is a stiff wind; sails and flags are flapping, the waves are foaming against the sloping bow. The painter chose the viewpoint so that it seems as if we are there on the water.
oil on panel, 29 x 37 cm
Willem van de Velde (II) initially worked in Amsterdam, a city of many marine painters. He left for England with his father in 1672, where he could earn a good living at the court of the English king. There are more works by Van de Velde in English palaces and museums than in the Netherlands.
oil on canvas, 37 x 46 cm
loan from the municipality of Amsterdam (legacy A. van der Hoop)
Seascapes often had a symbolic meaning in the 17th century.
Paintings of shipwrecks and storms referred to the insignificance of man and the danger at sea. A painting of a calm sea or a quiet harbour scene, on the other hand, represented a safe return home.
oil on panel, 35 x 30 cm
The painting was painted by Matthias Withoos in response to a dike breach near the North Holland village of Schardam. The painting shows the repair work on the breached dike. As far as is known, this is the only 17th century painting that shows such work.
The dike broke over a length of approximately 120 meters. Instead of straightening the dike again, it was decided to build the dike around the lock.
Withoos was commissioned to record the restoration work on the Zuiderzeedijk in 1675. The client was Jacob van Foreest, who, as a landowner and member of the Gecommitteerde Raden of Westfriesland and the Noorderkwartier, was partly responsible for the dike restoration after the All Saints' Flood of 1675.
Westfries Museum Collection. Purchased with the support of the Hollands Noorderkwartier Water Board, the Dutch Water Board Bank, Hendrik Muller's Vaderlandsch Fonds, the Kerkmeijer-de Regt Foundation and Friends of the Westfries Museum.