Coast Scene, by Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman, c. 1655
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Coast Scene

Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman (Reinier Zeeman; Dutch, c. 1623-c. 1668)

c. 1655

Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
53.7 × 48.6 cm (21 1/8 × 19 1/8 in.); (Framed): 73.4 × 68.9 × 7 cm (28 7/8 × 27 1/8 × 2 3/4 in.)
Culture
Netherlands
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Credit line
Gift of Byron L. Smith
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the Art Institute of Chicago

About this work

The Dutch Republic’s pride in its successful maritime endeavors like fishing, shipbuilding, and foreign trade contributed to the great popularity of marine paintings like this one. Such coastal scenes were one of the most popular landscape genres on the market. Here, the fishing vessels used to catch herring, called herring busses, float atop a glassy sea that stretches to meet the low horizon, disappearing into the expansive sky full of billowing clouds. Atop the ships’ tall masts, Dutch flags flutter in the wind.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0