Search by artist
Sluit

Romanticism paintings art movement • artists • artworks for sale

The first half of the 19th century was the heyday of Romanticism. Painting from this period was initially strongly inspired by that of the Golden Age. On the one hand, this was the result of the appreciation at home and abroad for Dutch 17th-century masters. In addition, there was a growing nationalism in our country, fed by the French Napoleonic rule (1795-1813) and reinforced by the secession from Belgium in 1830. In search of their own identity, people looked back with pride on the Golden Age, a period of great prosperity: Holland ruled the oceans, artists such as Rembrandt and Frans Hals painted their most famous canvases and the oversized Town Hall (later Palace) was built on Dam Square, as a symbol of the power and prosperity of the Republic. The Romantic painters were inspired by subjects that were popular in the 17th century, such as interior, landscape, cityscape, seascape and genre painting. The romantic attitude to life was a reaction to the rationalist thinking of the 18th century Enlightenment.

In search of the ideal landscape
The romantic feeling and thinking focused on nature. The landscape painter was struck by its greatness, by its serene beauty, but also by its whimsical and sometimes devastating power. Raging storms, threatening thunderstorms, harsh frost and sometimes shipwrecks triggered strong emotions in the artist. But the quiet, untouched nature could also touch him deeply: mysterious moon nights, almost empty ice plains in the late afternoon sun and idyllic mountain landscapes at a "golden" sunset. Landscape painting focused on the insignificance of man in relation to the overwhelming nature. Large-scale panoramic views, such as those of Andreas Schelfhout, and forest views with impressive voodoo oaks by B.C. Koekkoek and his students are evidence of this. The romantic landscape painting is not an exact representation of nature as it presented itself to the painter. It appears to be painted deceptively true to nature, but is in fact a composite of the most beautiful parts of reality. To this end, nature had to be studied and sketched. Painters made studies on their journeys, often spontaneous impressions, which they used in the studio to create idealized images. Beauty and decency were considered important, a painting had to be pleasant to look at and surpass reality in beauty.

Painters in other genres also worked according to this ideal. As far as one can now ascertain, cityscapes were sometimes topographically correct, but usually the painters tinkered with a composition until a beautiful whole was obtained. The historicizing Dutch cityscape was very popular in the 19th century, both at home and abroad. One of the most important interpreters of the cityscape was the Amsterdam Cornelis Springer. From about 1875 he painted meticulous city portraits with a town hall or rich merchant houses in the Dutch Renaissance style at the center of the image, often furnished with figures in 17th-century clothing. In doing so, he embellished reality somewhat through changes in the composition and the omission of disturbing, contemporary elements. By depicting the 16th and early 17th century buildings, he responded to the growing interest of buyers in their own past. Springer was also loved for his realistic details and lively upholstery, borrowed from everyday life.

This was also found in the beach scene, for example. In English and French Romanticism, painters sometimes turned the beach into a scene of drama and agony, where shipwrecks took place in a flying storm, in Dutch Romanticism the quieter beach scenes predominated, with ships safe on dry land and the everyday activity of fishermen. Interior scenes reflected the bourgeois conservatism of this time. The 17th century also served as an example here: peeks into Old Dutch bourgeois houses, with figures in ditto clothing, strict wooden furniture, black and white tiled floors and stained glass windows. But also church interiors à la Pieter Jansz. Saenredam and Emanuel de Witte were painted. In addition to historicizing 17th-century scenes, later living styles can be found in Romanticism in paintings of rococo, neoclassical or Biedermeier interiors.

The romantic penchant for the past and glorification of nature manifested itself as a political, social and cultural phenomenon. The above shows that painting from the first half of the 19th century was also profoundly influenced by this. Not only did artists paint history pieces, with the glorious national past as their subject, but an idealized, typical (Old) Dutch atmosphere image was also created in other ways.


Barend Cornelis Koekkoek | Forest view with cattle, oil on panel, 69.1 x 90.2 cm, signed l.r. and dated 1853

Barend Cornelis Koekkoek

painting • for sale

Forest view with cattle, 1853

Johannes Franciscus Spohler | Daily activities in a sunlit street, oil on canvas, 44.3 x 35.3 cm, signed l.r.

Johannes Franciscus Spohler

painting • for sale

Daily activities in a sunlit street

Antonius Josephus Madlener | An extensive river landscape with a shepherd and flock, oil on panel, 21.7 x 29.7 cm, signed l.r. and dated '54

Antonius Josephus Madlener

painting • for sale

An extensive river landscape with a shepherd and flock, 1854

Constant P. Boon | The flirtation, oil on panel, 62.1 x 52.9 cm, signed l.l. and dated AN '57

Constant P. Boon

painting • for sale

The flirtation, 1857

Jan van Os | A still life with flowers, fruits, insects, a mouse and a bird's nest, oil on panel, 70.0 x 56.0 cm, signed l.l. and dated 1774

Jan van Os

painting • for sale

A still life with flowers, fruits, insects, a mouse and a bird's nest, 1774

Jan Bedijs Tom | Cows at willow grove, ink and watercolour on paper, 20.7 x 30.0 cm, signed l.r.

Jan Bedijs Tom

watercolour • drawing • for sale

Cows at willow grove

Mari ten Kate | A pleasant surprise, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 90.5 cm, signed l.l.

Mari ten Kate

painting • for sale

A pleasant surprise

Adrianus Eversen | A sunlit street in Amsterdam, oil on panel, 18.8 x 15.2 cm, signed l.l. with monogram

Adrianus Eversen

painting • for sale

A sunlit street in Amsterdam

Wijnand Nuijen | Frozen landscape with figures and a shipyard, oil on panel, 23.4 x 29.8 cm, signed l.l. and dated 1830

Wijnand Nuijen

painting • for sale

Frozen landscape with figures and a shipyard, 1830

Charles Leickert | Crowded winter street, oil on panel, 37.2 x 28.7 cm, signed l.r. and painted ca. 1855

Charles Leickert

painting • for sale

Crowded winter street

Cornelis Springer | Mand and woman in church interior, oil on canvas, 32.9 x 27.3 cm, signed l.l. with monogram and dated '44

Cornelis Springer

painting • for sale

Mand and woman in church interior, 1844

Pieter de Goeje | The Sabelspoort in Arnhem, seen from the Rhine, on the left the fish market, oil on panel, 23.4 x 31.2 cm, signed l.r. and painted ca. 1848

Pieter de Goeje

painting • for sale

The Sabelspoort in Arnhem, seen from the Rhine, on the left the fish market, ca. 1848

Adolf Stademann | Skaters on a frozen waterway, oil on canvas laid down on panel, 33.5 x 46.2 cm, signed l.l.

Adolf Stademann

painting • for sale

Skaters on a frozen waterway

Hermanus Koekkoek jr. | Shipping off the coast, oil on panel, 78.4 x 120.3 cm, signed l.r. and dated 1868

Hermanus Koekkoek jr.

painting • for sale

Shipping off the coast, 1868

Willem Koekkoek | View of the Koppelpoort in Amersfoort, oil on canvas, 86.5 x 125.5 cm, signed l.l.

Willem Koekkoek

painting • for sale

View of the Koppelpoort in Amersfoort

Paul Jean Clays | Segelwettbewerb vor Vlissingen, oil on canvas, 60.1 x 100.0 cm, signed l.r. and dated 1860

Paul Jean Clays

painting • for sale

Segelwettbewerb vor Vlissingen, 1860

Eugène Fichel | The Connoisseur, oil on panel, 21.8 x 15.8 cm, signed l.l. and dated 1871

Eugène Fichel

painting • for sale

The Connoisseur, 1871

Andreas Schelfhout | A hunter and skaters on the ice along the edge of the forest, oil on panel, 31.1 x 24.3 cm

Andreas Schelfhout

painting • for sale

A hunter and skaters on the ice along the edge of the forest

François Namur | Putting up the hair, oil on canvas, 74.6 x 47.6 cm, signed l.r.

François Namur

painting • for sale

Putting up the hair

Louis Meijer | Mountain landscape with figures, oil on canvas, 67.4 x 84.7 cm, signed c.l.

Louis Meijer

painting • for sale

Mountain landscape with figures

Willem Koekkoek | View of a Dutch street with a bridge over a canal, oil on canvas, 67.4 x 82.3 cm, signed l.l. and dated '66

Willem Koekkoek

painting • for sale

View of a Dutch street with a bridge over a canal, 1866

Willem Vester | Skaters on the ice near a castle ruin, oil on canvas, 82.1 x 124.8 cm, signed l.l.

Willem Vester

painting • for sale

Skaters on the ice near a castle ruin

Willem Koekkoek | Winter street scene in Culemborg, oil on canvas, 86.5 x 125.3 cm, signed l.r.

Willem Koekkoek

painting • for sale

Winter street scene in Culemborg

Johannes Josephus Destrée | Skating on the Spaarne with the windmill De Adriaan and the St. Bavokerk, Haarlem, watercolour on paper, 36.5 x 56.6 cm, signed l.r.

Johannes Josephus Destrée

watercolour • drawing • for sale

Skating on the Spaarne with the windmill De Adriaan and the St. Bavokerk, Haarlem

Adrianus Eversen | Behind the church, oil on panel, 34.8 x 27.0 cm, signed l.r.

Adrianus Eversen

painting • for sale

Behind the church

Carl Friedrich Deiker | Game on a hill, oil on canvas, 48.6 x 37.5 cm, signed l.l.

Carl Friedrich Deiker

painting • for sale

Game on a hill

Benjamin Vautier I | The Epicurean, oil on canvas, 35.2 x 27.6 cm, signed l.r. and dated '75

Benjamin Vautier I

painting • for sale

The Epicurean, 1875

Jan Baptist Tetar van Elven | Interior of the Laurenschurch in Rotterdam, oil on panel, 42.8 x 33.3 cm, signed l.l. with initials

Jan Baptist Tetar van Elven

painting • for sale

Interior of the Laurenschurch in Rotterdam