National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: View of Dordrecht from the Dordtse Kil
  • Overview
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Bibliography

Overview

The Netherlands was a great trading nation that depended on shipping as a basis for wealth and power. Whether on the open sea or through the network of rivers and canals that spread across the low lying land, Dutch ships carried goods for trade and commerce. Cities and towns grew up along the inland waterways so that transport of goods by barges and passengers by ferries could be facilitated.

Depictions of such water views were extremely popular in the first half of the seventeenth century. One of the greatest early landscape artists, Jan van Goyen was particularly adept at suggesting the various moods of the land in different seasons of the year or weather conditions. In this view of Dordrecht, the sky is overcast and the water calm, the atmosphere carefully created through Van Goyen's subtle range of ochers and grays.

Figures animate the scene; a fisherman works his traps on the left and behind him a sailboat takes on more travelers from a smaller transport boat. Another rowboat in the center foreground has already taken on passengers from the ferry boat and is transporting them to the harbor of Dordrecht.

Inscription

lower center on stern of boat: VGoyen 1644

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

(Eugene Glaenzer, New York and Paris), possibly for (Jacques Seligmann, Paris and New York);[1] sold 1906 to Baron Vladimir de Gunzburg [1873-1932], Paris;[2] by inheritance to his son, Serge de Gunzburg [b. 1911], Geneva;[3] sold 8 February 1978 through (Heim Gallery, Paris) to NGA.

[1] Glaezner managed Seligmann’s New York branch.

[2] This early provenance is given by Hans-Ulrich Beck, Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656, 4 vols., Doornspijk, 1987-1991: 3(1987):177, no. 296a.

[3] According to Heim Gallery.

Exhibition History

Bibliography

1981
Juffermans, Jan. "Han Ulrich Beck--een leven met Jan van Goyen." Tableau 3 (March/April 1981): 594-595, repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 297, no. 393, color repro.
1984
Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K. Dutch Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1984: 14-15, repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 185, repro.
1986
Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids and Kampen, 1986: 305.
1987
Beck, Hans-Ulrich. Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656. 4 vols. Doornspijk, 1987-1991: 3(1987):177, no. 296A, repro.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 125, repro.
1995
Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 61-64, color repro. 63.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 188, no. 147, color repro.

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