Port of Dordrecht with ships and raft, 1871
Changing weather sets the mood of this painting. The jagged clouds allow the painter to contrast the lightly lit beach with the heavily darkened sea. In the foreground, fishermen are hauling in the sail of their tjalk after having finished their work. A Dutch fluyt can be seen in the background; in the distance, a towering church spire suggests the silhouette of a coastal town.
This painting was created at the height of Dutch marine painting. It owes its flourishing, among other things, to the religious freedom that prevailed there, which displaced the Christian-dominated imagery and made room for everyday scenes. Due to the enormous wealth of the Dutch, less wealthy citizens now also became potential buyers of works of art. Since they prefer the depiction of their everyday life to mythological themes that are difficult to decode, the painters adapt their offer.
The life of Jan Blanckerhoff (also called Jan Maat) is difficult to trace with archival documents. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, he sailed twice with the States General Fleet and earned a reputation as an „ex- pert painter of maritime affairs.“ The Dutch art writer Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719) reports that the painter was „dissolute and unbound in his life, bustling and inclined to variety“. The fact that Blanckerhoff‘s oeuvre is still underestimated today is shown by the attribution of many paintings to better-known painters such as Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630/31-1708).