Zeilschip en sloep op een stormachtige zee c. 1825 - 1875

Petrus Johannes Schotel created this drawing of a sailboat and sloop on a stormy sea with pencil on paper. It is a scene of maritime drama. Schotel was a 19th-century Dutch painter, working at a time when the Netherlands defined itself as a seafaring nation, with all the social, political, and economic structures that came with it. For centuries, its identity had been forged by international trade. The Dutch Golden Age, with its great flourishing of the arts, was enabled by maritime dominance. We can read an image like this in relation to that history and culture. On the one hand, there is a sense of national pride in seafaring, but on the other, there is also an awareness of the dangers and risks that it entails. Here we see nature as a powerful, potentially destructive force. To properly interpret the image, we need to do the work of historians. By researching the cultural background, looking into the artist’s life, and learning about the institutions and traditions that shaped him, we can begin to understand the social conditions that made this work possible.