At the Port on the River IJ

Artist Ludolf Bakhuizen (Dutch, 1630-1708)

CultureDutch

Date1701

MediumEtching on laid paper

Dimensions6 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. (17.1 x 24.1 cm)
Overall, Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Frame: 17 1/2 × 21 1/2 in. (44.5 × 54.6 cm)

InscribedLower left corner

Credit LinePurchase, with funds provided from the Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Art Purchase Fund

Object number2001.34.1.10

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a set of ten etchings with the title plate. This depicts the scene from a port city. There are groups of people on the left and right side of the foreground; one person, slightly off-center stands by the fence, looking onto the seascape. The flags on the sailing ships wave vigorously in the wind.

Label TextLudolf Bakhuizen Dutch, 1630–1708 The River IJ and Seascapes, 1701 Etchings (prints) on laid paper By the 1600s, Western Europe became one of the most technologically advanced regions of the world and its wealth soared. Printmakers produced series celebrating this natural bounty, material abundance, and technological achievement. Here, Ludolf Bakhuizen catalogues the seafaring prowess of his native Holland with a survey of Dutch nautical craft—from men-of-war and royal yachts to mere rowboats—under weather conditions ranging from windless calm to howling tempest. The series begins with the title page, in Dutch, at upper left. The next print depicts the female personification of Amsterdam riding the waves in the city’s harbor in the triumphal car of the sea-god Neptune—a proud declaration of Amsterdam’s role as Holland’s premier port. Museum purchase 2001.34.1.1–.11 ProvenanceAlbert van Loock collection, Brussels, before 1983; Private collection, New York, 1983-2001; Jeffrey Wortman, New York, New York, 2001; Chrysler Museum of Art Purchase, with funds provided from the Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Art Purchase Fund, 2001. Exhibition History"Serial Thrillers: The Lure of Old Master Print Series," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 1, 2015 - January 10, 2016.Published ReferencesIrene de Groot and Robert Vorstman, _Marine Prints of the Dutch Masters_ London. 1980, 109-115. Clifford S. Ackley, _Printmaking in the age of Rembrandt_, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Ma., 1981, 295-297.