Although he lived and worked in Breda, Christiaan Kannemans was a very successful painter of seascapes, especially of the Zeeland waters. A number of patrons enabled him to make a study trip to England, and with the support of King William II he traveled along the Dutch and French coasts. Commissioned by the latter, he also painted a 'calm sea' and a 'wild sea'. Kanneemans exhibited a lot at the exhibitions of Living Masters and was commissioned by the government to paint a number of railway bridges, intended for the world exhibition in Philadelphia in 1867.