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Lot Essay
The Hague School artist Hendrik Willem Mesdag started his career as a professional artist in 1866, after he left his job as a banker at his father's office. He moved to Brussels, where he studied with artists such as Willem Roelofs (1822-1897) and Laurens Alma Tadema (1836-1912). During this period, he mostly painted the landscape around Brussels and was focused on painting detailed studies of subjects he found in and around his house. While on holiday on the island of Norderney in 1868, Mesdag made a large number of sea studies for the first time, which he would use as a basis for paintings once back home. These paintings received high praise by his colleagues, and Mesdag had discovered the subject he would keep using throughout his career: the sea.
Mesdag and his wife, Sientje Mesdag-van Houten decided to move to The Hague, where they could study the sea daily. As Mesdag would say in an interview with 'De Nieuwste Courant': "...thuis had ik een heelen winter aan een werkstuk zitten scharrelen; 't was een kust, maar zo naoef geschilderd. Toen zei ik: je moet de zee voor je zien, elken dag, er mee leven, anders wordt het niets. En toen gingen we naar Den Haag."
The change of theme marked the start of an international career with frequent exhibitions of works at the Salon de Paris, where his realistic rendering of views of the North Sea and Scheveningen made a strong and positive impression on art critics.
The present lot was painted in 1889, at the zenith of Mesdags career. He had just become chairman of Pulchri Studio, an important platform for the painters of the Hague School as it gave them the chance to exhibit their works. Mesdag would remain chairman until 1907 and significantly increase the activities of Pulchri Studio to promote the Hague School artists, such as Jacob Maris and Marius Bauer inside and outside of Holland. In the same year, Mesdag took part in several exhibitions, including the Salon in Paris, where he received a bronze medal. He was also knighted 'Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw.'
Although Mesdag's early works mainly concentrated on the representation of the stormy sea and had a strong narrative element, in his later work he was primarily concerned with the rendering of a mood. The present lot is characteristic of Mesdag's later period. With its soft tones and light colors, it skillfully captures the atmosphere of early morning with a single boat sailing out into the calm North Sea.
Mesdag and his wife, Sientje Mesdag-van Houten decided to move to The Hague, where they could study the sea daily. As Mesdag would say in an interview with 'De Nieuwste Courant': "...thuis had ik een heelen winter aan een werkstuk zitten scharrelen; 't was een kust, maar zo naoef geschilderd. Toen zei ik: je moet de zee voor je zien, elken dag, er mee leven, anders wordt het niets. En toen gingen we naar Den Haag."
The change of theme marked the start of an international career with frequent exhibitions of works at the Salon de Paris, where his realistic rendering of views of the North Sea and Scheveningen made a strong and positive impression on art critics.
The present lot was painted in 1889, at the zenith of Mesdags career. He had just become chairman of Pulchri Studio, an important platform for the painters of the Hague School as it gave them the chance to exhibit their works. Mesdag would remain chairman until 1907 and significantly increase the activities of Pulchri Studio to promote the Hague School artists, such as Jacob Maris and Marius Bauer inside and outside of Holland. In the same year, Mesdag took part in several exhibitions, including the Salon in Paris, where he received a bronze medal. He was also knighted 'Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw.'
Although Mesdag's early works mainly concentrated on the representation of the stormy sea and had a strong narrative element, in his later work he was primarily concerned with the rendering of a mood. The present lot is characteristic of Mesdag's later period. With its soft tones and light colors, it skillfully captures the atmosphere of early morning with a single boat sailing out into the calm North Sea.