View of Inland Waterway with Fisherman
17th century
Medium
Etching; state I
Dimensions
sheet: 5 5/8 x 8 3/8 in. (14.3 x 21.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Florance Waterbury in memory of John I. Waterbury, 1968
Accession Number
68.724.49
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the bustling waterways of 17th-century Holland with Reinier Nooms, known Zeeman ("sailor"), a masterful Dutch etcher renowned for his lively maritime scenes. Created during the Dutch Golden Age, *View of Inland Waterway Fisherman* captures a serene yet industrious moment: a fisherman at work amid ships gliding along calm inland channels. Nooms, who began as a sailor before turning to art, infused his prints with authentic details drawn from personal experience, evoking the era's thriving trade and fishing economy. This etching, in its rare first state (state I), showcases Nooms' vir...
About the Artist
Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman
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...