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©
Carmen Thyssen Collection
Jan Josephsz. van Goyen

A River Estuary with "Smalschips" and Fishermen

1651
Oil on panel.
35.5 x 33.2 cm
Carmen Thyssen Collection
Inv. no. (
CTB.1995.3
)
ROOM 23
Level 2
Permanent Collection
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 13 15 16 17 18 22 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Recommended start of the visitClassical rooms
1 14th Century. Early Italian Painting 2 15th Century. German and Spanish Painting 3 15th Century. Early Netherlandish Painting 4 15th Century. Italian Painting 5 15th and 16th Centuries. Renaissance Portraiture 6 16th Century. Villahermosa Gallery 7 16th Century. Italian Painting 8 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 9 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 10 16th Century. Netherlandish Painting 11 Tiziano, Tintoretto, Bassano and  El Greco 12 17th Century. Caravaggio and Baroque Painting 13 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 14 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 15 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 16 18th Century. Italian Painting 17 18th Century. Italian Painting 18 18th Century. Italian Painting 19 Classical rooms 20 Classical rooms 21 Classical rooms 22 18th Century. Italian Painting 23 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 24 18th Century. French and English Painting 25 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Scenes of Daily Life and Interiors 26 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 27 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Portrait 28 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 29 19th Century. European Painting. Goya and Romanticism  
In an upright composition depicting an estuary nearly four fifths of the scene is devoted to the dramatic, cloud-filled sky. The immediate foreground features a spit of land with the silhouettes of a fishing boat with three occupants, wood pilings and, to the right, two cows. At the back is a sailing vessel known as a smalschip heavily weighted with passengers and towing a dinghy. Other sailing vessels appear to either side. A second spit of land with cottages and a leading mark projects from the left, and in the distance rises a church with a blunt tower reminiscent of that of the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht, an edifice that Van Goyen depicted repeatedly.

Van Goyen painted scenes of still rivers and estuaries throughout his life, but only seems to have begun depicting inland waterways on an upright format in 1638. Subsequently he dated similarly designed river views in 1643, 1646, 1651 and 1655. The date on the present painting was deciphered as 1641 when it was exhibited in London at Leonard Koetser´s Gallery in 1966, but it was plausibly suggested that it should be read as 1651 by Hans-Ulrich Beck. The bolder contrasts of tone and introduction of passages of colour in the sky support the later dating. Though depicting a scene with rougher seas, the upright marine in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, no. 1249, exhibits a comparable technique and palette. Compare also the painting dated 1655 with a very similar composition in the collection of Mrs. Francis Hock, London. Perhaps more poetically than any other Dutch landscapist, van Goyen captured the peaceful rhythms and quiet beauty of quotidian activities on Holland´s watery highways. The simple lives of men and beasts go on with surprising obliviousness to the towering display of the heavens overhead.

Peter C. Sutton

17th Century17th Century - Dutch paintingPaintingOilpanel
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A River Estuary with "Smalschips" and Fishermen. Estuario fluvial con "smalschips" y pescadores, 1651
A River Estuary with "Smalschips" and Fishermen
Jan Josephsz. van Goyen

©

Carmen Thyssen Collection

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The exploitation rights of the images correspond to the Fundación Coleccion Thyssen-Bornemisza, F.S.P. The Fundación authorizes the downloading of high-resolution images from its website for private use, use for educational and research purposes, and non-commercial uses.

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A River Estuary with "Smalschips" and Fishermen. Estuario fluvial con "smalschips" y pescadores, 1651
A River Estuary with "Smalschips" and Fishermen
Jan Josephsz. van Goyen

©

Carmen Thyssen Collection

Terms of Use

The Photo Library of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza offers sale and rental service of photographic material of all the works of the Carmen Thyssen Collection.

To request images or permits for commercial use in academic or research publications, that is, catalogues of other institutions, monographs and other specialised publications, you should contact the Photo Library by email at the e-mail: @email.

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