Merchant Ships
1643/68
Medium
Etching in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 11.6 × 12.3 cm (4 5/8 × 4 7/8 in.); Plate: 12.2 × 20.7 cm (4 13/16 × 8 3/16 in.); Sheet: 14.8 × 23.2 cm (5 7/8 × 9 3/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
151647
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Reinier Nooms was a painter and etcher who harbored a great love of the sea. He spent many years as a sailor on Dutch merchant vessels traveling between his native Amsterdam and ports in France, Italy, and North Africa. As a reflection of his nautical background, he frequently signed his name as “Zeeman,” or, “Seaman.” This signature appears among the clouds at the top of the etching seen here, one of 170 he produced. Nooms’s realistic detail comes directly from his seafaring experience, whether...
About the Artist
Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman · 1623–1664
Reinier Nooms, known as Zeeman ("sailor" in Dutch), was a prominent Dutch maritime painter, draftsman, and etcher of the Golden Age, born around 1623 or 1624 in Amsterdam and dying there in 1664 at about age 40. Before turning to art around 1643, he led a rough life as a professional seaman, which informed his unparalleled accuracy in depicting ships, ports, naval battles, and coastal scenes—knowl...