Boarding the paddle steamer on choppy waters

Dutch artists have always been fascinated by the abundance of water in their country and through the centuries the Dutch North Sea, rivers, canals and dikes have proven to be an important source of inspiration to many artists. This was also the case for Andreas Schelfhout, one of the most renowned names in Dutch Romanticism. Schelfhout is well known for his winter landscapes, especially his depiction of the ice was admired internationally. In 1841 an art critic wrote in The Kunstkronijk: ‘Only in the manner in which Schelfhout represents winter, in its white softness and with the motley crowd of skaters, do we feel there is something attractive to it’. It is no surprise that when winter was over, Schelfhout again turned to the Dutch waters for inspiration.

In the present lot Schelfhout has chosen a remarkably contemporary subject. Water transportation was a time consuming activity in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The most popular way of transport was the Trekschuit: a track boat that was pulled by horses at an average speed of five kilometres per hour. When Schelfhout painted the depicted lot in 1846, new ways of transport were emerging. In 1823 the first Dutch steamer went to sea, after which a network of steamers slowly started to develop. The painter contrasts this aspect of society's industrialization with traditional depictions of a Tjalk and a Hektjalk, here depicted in the foreground. The present lot is a unique Dutch snapshot of these recent industrial novities.