A coastal nocturne with a ship ablaze on the shore, others in a calm beyond, a fortified port beyond

Details

Aernout Smit (?1641/2-1710 Amsterdam)
A coastal nocturne with a ship ablaze on the shore, others in a calm beyond, a fortified port beyond
signed 'A. Smit' (lower right)
oil on canvas
41½ x 60 5/8 in. (105.5 x 154 cm.)

Provenance

Anon. Sale, Phillips, London, 2 July 1996, lot 24 (sold £10,000).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Sale room notice

Please note that the estimate is £20,000-30,000, and not as stated in the catalogue.

Lot Essay

Smit, who is thought to have been a native of Amsterdam, was recorded by Houbraken as having been a pupil of Jan Theunisz. Blanckerhoff, who was active in Amsterdam between 1659 and 1666. That would fit with Smit's presumed age, based on a notarial deed of 1667, in which he is described as 'about 26'. He was strongly influenced by the work of Ludolf Bakuizen, and indeed made a statement before a notary in 1689, in which he said that 'about two years' previously, at the request of Hendrick Grel, he had 'copied a square painting by Bakhuizen, representing the city [Amsterdam] viewed from the river IJ and facing towards Cattenburgh...'

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