- 128
Lieve Pietersz. Verschuier Rotterdam circa 1630 - 1686
bidding is closed
Description
- Lieve Pietersz. Verschuier
- An evening coastal scene with sailors unloading their cargo, a man-o-war firing a salute in the distance
- signed lower right: L. verschuier
- oil on oak panel
Provenance
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 22 May 1963, lot 80 (to Hale);
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 20 October 1982, lot 70, when bought by the Herwegs.
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 20 October 1982, lot 70, when bought by the Herwegs.
Catalogue Note
Although they formed only part of his oeuvre, Verschuier is certainly best known for his highly atmospheric marines which, as here, are usually set before dramatic sunsets, depicted with unusual effects of light. He was in this regard a startlingly original artist, with no obvious precursors nor followers. Only one dated picture, of 1661, is known (Munich, Alte Pinakothek), but by comparison with it a picture similar to the present one, in Paris, Fondation Custodia, has been dated to circa 1660 (see G.S. Keyes, Mirror of Empire, exhibition catalogue, Minneapolis 1990, pp. 180-3, reproduced p. 181), and the Herweg picture must also date from the same period of the artist's life.