Afgemeerde boten voor een kust c. 1825 - 1875

Curator: There’s something hauntingly beautiful about this drawing. The scene almost seems to whisper, doesn't it? Editor: Yes, it certainly has a wistful quality, like a faded memory. We are looking at "Afgemeerde boten voor een kust," or "Moored boats off a coast," a pencil drawing from somewhere between 1825 and 1875, attributed to Petrus Johannes Schotel, and it's here at the Rijksmuseum. Curator: Schotel really captures the Romantic spirit here, the raw energy of the sea, even with just a pencil. Those boats feel restless, even as they’re docked. Like they’re longing for open water, a wider horizon. Editor: Indeed. Consider that seafaring in the 19th century wasn't just about trade or exploration. For many, especially marginalized communities, the sea represented both opportunity and peril, a space of potential liberation but also of immense hardship and exploitation through, for example, forced labor and naval conscription. The seemingly tranquil scene holds these tensions. Curator: It makes you wonder about the stories hidden beneath the surface, doesn’t it? Each ripple a secret, each vessel a vessel for countless journeys, dreams… and anxieties. What lives were tethered to those ropes? I feel the vastness but I am drawn to the subtle, almost hesitant strokes of the pencil. Editor: Precisely. While Schotel is often celebrated for his dramatic seascapes, this particular drawing, with its muted tones and sparse details, also draws the eye. It’s almost meditative. Look closely at the figures at the edge of the water—their placement relative to the ships. Are they hoping for departure or welcoming those arriving? Curator: Perhaps a little of both, the ebb and flow, of arrivals and departures… it's that human longing for connection and belonging, right? You almost feel you could write a poem on it. A sonnet on saltwater. Editor: Well put. Schotel leaves space for our own narratives, our own anxieties and hopes. Curator: Which is, in a way, what makes it enduring. Something whispers from the paper. Editor: Exactly. A quiet commentary on our enduring relationship with the sea and all it symbolizes.