after an original 1634 painting by Abraham Speeck (Dutch)
Oil on canvas, 16 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (frame)
Unsigned
Period lacquered wood frame
Condition: Yellow tint in sky may be related to old vanish. No holes, no significant craquelure or losses, and no evidence of repair. The old frame has scuffs and losses and has previously been touched-up in several areas.
ABOUT
This painting is based on a believed-to-be original 1634 Dutch painting by Abraham Speeck, as well as other 17th c. copies.
The scene depicts a Danish whaling cookery on the island of Danskoya at Spitsbegen, Svalbard (Norway). The cookery was run by two brothers Johannes and Gothard Braem, both depicted at the down center of the painting. The motif shows the full process of the whale-oil industry during the first part of the 17th century. At the far left the actual hunt is being conducted from ships bearing the Danish flag, while the center and right focus on the different steps of producing the whale-oil, with the two brothers making a deal with a merchant in the center of the foreground.
The struggle for control over the whaling industry was of huge economical and political importance to both Denmark and the Netherlands. It's been sugested that this is why there appear to be several versions of this scene nearly identical but with interchangeable Dutch and Danish flags. (I could not find a digital image of the 1964 original with Dutch flags.)
Scroll to see one such copy from 1639 by artist Cornelis de Man entitled Whale-Oil Factory of the Amsterdam Chamber of the Northern Company at Smerenburg, in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This may be the source of inspiration for our painting.
..
after an original 1634 painting by Abraham Speeck (Dutch)
Oil on canvas, 16 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (frame)
Unsigned
Period lacquered wood frame
Condition: Yellow tint in sky may be related to old vanish. No holes, no significant craquelure or losses, and no evidence of repair. The old frame has scuffs and losses and has previously been touched-up in several areas.
ABOUT
This painting is based on a believed-to-be original 1634 Dutch painting by Abraham Speeck, as well as other 17th c. copies.
The scene depicts a Danish whaling cookery on the island of Danskoya at Spitsbegen, Svalbard (Norway). The cookery was run by two brothers Johannes and Gothard Braem, both depicted at the down center of the painting. The motif shows the full process of the whale-oil industry during the first part of the 17th century. At the far left the actual hunt is being conducted from ships bearing the Danish flag, while the center and right focus on the different steps of producing the whale-oil, with the two brothers making a deal with a merchant in the center of the foreground.
The struggle for control over the whaling industry was of huge economical and political importance to both Denmark and the Netherlands. It's been sugested that this is why there appear to be several versions of this scene nearly identical but with interchangeable Dutch and Danish flags. (I could not find a digital image of the 1964 original with Dutch flags.)
Scroll to see one such copy from 1639 by artist Cornelis de Man entitled Whale-Oil Factory of the Amsterdam Chamber of the Northern Company at Smerenburg, in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This may be the source of inspiration for our painting.
..
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