Martinus SCHOUMAN (Dordrecht 1770 – 1848 Breda)

Ships and sailing boats at anchor in calm seas

Signed and dated 1816 lower right

Oil on panel, 70 x 91.5 cm

Collector's stamp on the back of the panel

PROVENANCE

- Lesly SMITH GALLERY, Amsterdam, 1987; private collection Sweden until September 2024

EXHIBITIONS

- The Hague, September 1987

THE ARTIST

    Martinus Schouman, a marine painter, was a pupil of M. Versteeg and his uncle Aert Schoùman, and many of his paintings can be found in Amsterdam. 

His body of work demonstrates a remarkable knowledge of ships and aspects of the sea. Our painting is a perfect demonstration of this, and one of his finest achievements, described as a major work with a mastery rarely seen (fig.1, see publication, exhibition The Hague 1987).

Dutch seascapes, so popular in the 17th century, were rather neglected in the 18th. Dordrecht revived the genre after 1780, and the driving force was Martinus Schouman, who sometimes outdid himself in terms of style and vision, and was followed for decades by seascape painters including his pupil Johannes Christiaan Schotel.

FIG.1

  PHOTOGRAPHS OF DETAILS