Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek artwork • painting • previously for sale Shipwreck off the coast
Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek
Veere 1778-1851 Amsterdam
1778-1851
Shipwreck off the coast
oil on panel 34.1 x 47.7 cm, signed l.c. and painted ca. 1810
This painting was previously for sale.
Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek is considered the ancestor of the well-known Koekkoek family of painters. He received his training at the classicist-oriented Middelburg Teeken Academy and at the same time worked in Thomas Gaal's wallpaper factory. After that he specialized in painting very finely elaborated cityscapes with water, and especially seascapes. He was one of the first at the beginning of the 19th century to be inspired by the famous sea painters of the Dutch Golden Age. It can be concluded from his paintings that he knew a lot about the different types of ships that sailed the open waters of Zeeland at the time. As a romantic artist, he was also fascinated by the drama of the shipwreck. The sea, which was suitable for the most diverse forms of transport, could turn into a swirling body of water in unfavorable tide and storm. Shipwreck was always lurking. Johannes Hermanus preferred to paint them dramatically, the ship slowly sinking in the waves, watched by some victims who had managed to save themselves.