Hendrik Willem Mesdag Dutch, 1831-1915

Mesdag Documentatie Stichting No. 2030.81

Bomschuiten op het strand is a study of a theme which is directly related to Mesdag’s masterpiece, his Panorama from 1881. The study most closely resembles the part of the Panorama that most clearly shows Breitner’s contribution, which is a row of cavalrymen with a line of ‘bomschuiten’ lying behind it. In the sketch Mesdag added a few towing horses that were used to beach the flat-bottomed boats. In the distance several bathing coaches appear. These white coaches were used by seaside visitors who could change into their bathing suits in there, possibly with the help of a bathing attendant and could then bathe in the sea straight from the coach. This oil paint study has the charm of a spontaneous sketch, a quality that was partly lost when making the Panorama. Most striking are the lively, bright colours and the effect of a warm summer’s day at the beach of Scheveningen with its characteristic contrast of the tough life of the fishermen to the pleasures of the prosperous seaside visitors.