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Jan van Speijk Debating whether to Set Fire to the Gunpowder
Also titled Jan van Speijk overweegt of hij de lont in het kruit zal steken
Jacobus Schoemaker Doyer (Krefeld, 1792–1867)
1834
- Medium
- canvas, oil paint (paint)
- Classification
- painting
- Dimensions
- height 89 cm x width 75 cm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Credit line
- On loan from the City of Amsterdam (A. van der Hoop Bequest)
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions violence, death or gore. How works are placed
About this work
During the Belgian Revolution, Jan van Speijk was in command of a Dutch gunboat. When on 5 February 1831 the ship was in danger of falling into rebel Belgian hands, he decided to set fire to a keg of gunpowder. That moment is depicted here: Van Speijk has made up his mind, and his crew take to their heels. Van Speijk’s act of courage made him a national hero in the Netherlands.
