# The Whale-oil Refinery near the Village of Smerenburg

- By: Cornelis de Man (Delft, 1621–1706)
- Date: 1639
- Medium: canvas, oil paint (paint)
- Classification: painting
- Dimensions: height 108 cm x width 205 cm
- Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/SK-A-2355--93fa33245b6d50f24dcaf065ba934636)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/nmEaF/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Smerenburg on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen was a settlement of Dutch whalers. As the painter never went there, he combined familiar images and stories in this work. The mountain at the left is probably on Jan Mayen Island. Strips of whale blubber are boiled and rendered into train (whale) oil in the numerous try-pots on the beach. The men’s barracks are visible in the right background.