Schepen aan de kust 1797 - 1838

Editor: This is "Ships on the Coast" by Johannes Christiaan Schotel, sometime between 1797 and 1838, using watercolor and pencil. There’s a really brooding feel to it; almost monochromatic, but in a way that feels compelling, like you can almost taste the salty air. What strikes you most about it? Curator: Oh, it does have that beautiful brooding quality, doesn’t it? What captivates me is the light, or lack thereof. The scene is enveloped in this sort of misty atmosphere. It's as though the sea and sky are sharing secrets. I like how Schotel lets the landscape bleed into the moment, all blurry uncertainty, a proper Romantic ideal. Do you notice how the people on the shore almost blend with the thatch-roofed buildings, and the boats echo the roiling skies? Editor: I see what you mean about the lack of light contributing to the Romantic feel of the work. It's a much more personal emotional reaction, I suppose. Curator: Exactly! But it's not just emotion for emotion's sake. Think about the time. Holland was under French rule for a while, and paintings of serene daily life and nature was almost a way of remembering what was precious, worth saving, in your own backyard, so to speak. What's preserved *here* I think, is an act of patriotic love. It has a tenderness. Editor: I hadn't considered it that way; more than just landscape. Now that I look closer, those darks aren’t just shadows; they are holding all these little details. Curator: Exactly! Each of those individuals on the shore, the textures in the water – the emotional detail carries you closer and closer. So it seems Schotel, in his way, asked viewers to lean in to really *see*, and appreciate what’s already there, on their own coast. A gentle, watercolour ‘huzzah’! Editor: That’s a great takeaway – art as a gentle call to appreciate your home. It changes everything I thought about Romanticism. Curator: Mine, too! Now every time I go to the beach on a grey day, I'm thinking about patriotism, too!