Lot 1057 Dα

Although other artists before him also painted seascapes, Hendrick Vroom is considered the founder of European marine painting. He was the first painter to devote himself entirely to this motif and establish it as an independent genre. Among his most important works were the designs for a series of ten tapestries commissioned by Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham. The Earl was commander in chief of the British fleet, and the tapestry series depicted the English navy's triumph over the Spanish Armada in 1588. The wall hangings were woven in Brussels from 1592 - 95 and later hung in the British houses of parliament until they were destroyed in the fire of 1854.

Further commissions for decorative battle paintings with the Dutch and British fleets were to follow, focussing on the detailed depiction of the ships. The majority of Vroom's works were large-format depictions of historic naval battles, in which the realistic portrayal of the ships involved was often at odds with the fanciful narrative. Alongside portraits of individual ships, Vroom's depictions of entire fleets and wealthy harbours were among his most sought-after works. At a time when England and the Netherlands were advancing to become important seafaring nations, his marine works appealed to the proud and patriotic self-image of his patrons. The present work is among the largest that Vroom ever painted, and depicts the beach at Scheveningen with fishing boats, galleons, and a dinghy on the water and fishers selling their wares on land. The piece is registered with the RKD in The Hague under the illustration no. 0000114471.