Shipping on the Maas with a Party in a Rowing Boat

Aelbert Cuyp made several paintings of the river Maas near his home town of Dordrecht. This example is in excellent condition, with some fine details such as the water dripping from the oar. Cuyp's painting conveys a moment of rest and calm in the bustling life of the river.

The sloop in the right foreground appears in a drawing in the British Museum (reg. no. 1895,0915.1142). Details from this drawing appear in several other paintings by Cuyp of the city taken from the North (Ascott; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1940.2.1). Cuyp used drawings made on the spot extensively. He worked up his canvases in his studio based on these drawings. This painting does not show any of the distinctive buildings found in Cuyp's other paintings of this scene. It probably shows somewhere near Dordrecht that would have been recognisable to his patrons who came from the city.

Wealthy passengers perhaps disembark, boats carry cargo, and people fish. The shipping, fishing and river trade depicted by Cuyp was very important to the local economy of Dordrecht. The windmill on the bank also shows the signs of the local rural economy.

Cuyp was very popular among late 18th-century and early 19th-century British collectors. Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild looked towards these collectors when furnishing his country house. It is one of a number of paintings at Waddesdon that came from the renowned collection of Thomas Baring (1799-1873), either purchased by Ferdinand or by his relatives.

Phillippa Plock, 2011