Caulking of a Vessel 1660 - 1686

Editor: So, here we have Lieve Pietersz. Verschuier's "Caulking of a Vessel," likely painted between 1660 and 1686, using oils. The harbor scene is immediately striking, especially the muted light. How would you begin to approach something so calm, yet so clearly a picture of industry? Curator: Ah, yes, it's funny isn't it? On the one hand, those glorious baroque clouds, the almost hazy stillness of the water… then your eye catches the activity near the large ship being caulked. It feels very...Dutch. It makes me think of those old proverbs about still waters running deep. What about you? Any element here calling to you? Editor: The contrast between the stillness and industry definitely. But also, how everyone is connected by water: the smaller boats and larger vessels… Curator: Absolutely, and Verschuier is placing us in that water too, isn’t he? We are at water level looking across the scene as if in our own little boat. Makes one feel almost part of that harbour. And look at the direction of those little boats; a reminder of human energy set against the larger almost epic forces of water and sky. Editor: You’re right; there’s a real sense of participation, not just observation. A connection to both the practical and the poetic. Is it common to find both qualities at play in Dutch landscape paintings of the time? Curator: Oh, most certainly. There was a real explosion of interest in the local, the everyday. A good protestant work ethic meshed with the pride of a trading empire. Editor: That gives me so much to think about; an environment both serene and bustling, and the people just working to hold it all together, bit by bit. Curator: Exactly. It’s an invitation, isn’t it, to appreciate both the grand sweep and the quiet determination within.