Man op een zeilschip op kalm water 1797 - 1838

Curator: What a delicate thing. Like finding a pressed flower in an old book. Editor: Exactly. We are looking at a drawing by Johannes Christiaan Schotel, entitled “Man op een zeilschip op kalm water,” or “Man on a sailing ship on calm water." Schotel probably created it between 1797 and 1838. It’s here at the Rijksmuseum. The artwork is watercolor on paper, made in the open air, likely as a preparatory sketch. Curator: It has this…unfinished quality, like a whisper of a memory. All those skeletal lines forming the rigging. I'm fascinated by its sense of emptiness—all that paper surrounding the small vessel. Makes you think of the vastness of the sea and the tiny, almost comical, vulnerability of humanity bobbing around on it. Editor: Indeed, the composition reinforces that reading. The ship itself is placed far to the right. And those lines you noticed – the spars and ropes of the rigging – become a complex geometrical web, juxtaposed against the more freely rendered hull. Schotel uses line to create a dynamic contrast between the crafted structure and the natural fluidity around it. Note how the watercolor softly defines the water and hints at reflections. Curator: There's a melancholy, a sense of the sublime in its simplicity, which places it perfectly within Romanticism, don't you think? All those perfectly captured lines create this haunting, serene atmosphere. I bet Schotel was battling a gale in his own heart even if the water remained flat calm on the day he drew this. I keep imagining him standing there, wind in his hair, sketching furiously… Editor: Undoubtedly. The emphasis on personal, subjective experience, certainly allies the drawing with Romanticism. I appreciate how Schotel’s work offers us not just a depiction, but almost a feeling, an impression. Curator: This really proves how sometimes less is more, right? All those missing elements let our imagination take over! I might have a go at nautical sketching myself, perhaps next summer…though maybe I’ll just take a photo instead! Editor: That is quite the thought! Let us proceed to our next stop…