Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Boats at Sea
01 Marine Painting, With Footnotes, #271
Boats at Sea, c. 1897
Oil on canvas
71 by 57cm., 28 by 22½in.
Private collection
Hendrik Willem Mesdag (23 February 1831–10 July 1915) was a Dutch marine painter born in Groningen. Mesdag was encouraged by his father, an amateur painter, to study art. He married Sina van Houten in 1856, and when they inherited a fortune from her father, Mesdag retired at the age of 35 to pursue a career as a painter.
He studied in Brussels with Willem Roelofs and in 1868 moved to The Hague to paint the sea. In 1870 he exhibited at the Paris Salon and won the gold medal for The Breakers of the North Sea.
In 1880 he received a commission from a Belgian company to paint a panorama giving a view over the village of Scheveningen on the North Sea coast near The Hague. With the help of Sina and students he completed the enormous painting, Panorama Mesdag, — 14 m high and 120 m around — by 1881. However, the vogue for panoramas was coming to an end, and when the company operating it went bust in 1886, Mesdag purchased the painting at auction and thereafter funding its operating losses from his own pocket.
He joined the art society of The Hague (the Pulchri Studio) and in 1889 was elected chairman. In 1903 he gave his house at Laan van Meerdervoort and his collection of paintings to the Netherlands; the house is now the Museum Mesdag. More on Hendrik Willem Mesdag
Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and 365 Saints, also visit my Boards on Pinterest
Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright
I don’t own any of these images — credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.
I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.
If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.
Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.
Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.