Ludolf Backhuysen I

Ludolf Backhuysen was a prolific and popular marine artist. Many of his paintings, drawings, and prints survive. This drawing is unsigned, which is unusual for Backhuysen; nevertheless, the high quality of the work and the materials used strongly suggest Backhuysen's confident hand. The initial graphite outline for this drawing, difficult to detect without a magnifying lens, is characteristic of his drawings. The sheet presents a coastal or river freighter known as a smalschip that is beached for repairs. The crew can be seen at the smoking pot preparing the caulking, a water-resistant tar or resin applied periodically to the ship's hull to seal it. A number of recaulking scenes appear in Dutch 17th-century art, suggesting that these works were produced for a maritime clientele.