The Drawbridge

About this artwork

…; collection Carel Daniël Reich (1837-1922), Amsterdam, 1924;{Jeltes 1924, p.9.} his widow, Anne Elisabeth Reich-Hohwü (1855-1933), Amsterdam; by whom bequeathed, with 38 other drawings, to the museum, 1933

Art Historical Context

**The Drawbridge** by Jacob Maris, created in 1875, the serene Dutch landscape that defined the artist's career. Maris (1837–1899), a leading figure in the Hague School—a 19th movement of Dutch painters celebrated for their realistic depictions of atmospheric light and everyday rural scenes—often portrayed waterways, bridges, and polders. This intimate drawing likely evokes the flat, watery expanses of the Netherlands, where drawbridges were vital for navigation and daily life, symbolizing the nation's engineering ingenuity amid its flood-prone terrain. Rendered in colored pencil on a modest ...