Johan Frederik Cornelis Scherrewitz (186-1951) – Boat with horses

Scherrewitz was the son of an Amsterdam stockbroker and was initially destined for that profession himself. However, things turned out differently. “I really didn’t feel like it”, he later told his biographer Henri van Calker, “and after some discussion I finally got leave to take drawing lessons on Sunday afternoons with the teacher Veltens. Later I also got van Poggenbeek When my father understood that I would never become a good stockman, I got my way and went wandering armed with painting”. Scherrewitz moved in 1898 for a period to Laren and later to Hilversum. However, he was less attracted to the polders, but more to open forest landscapes, such as he found during his frequent “excursions” to Brabant, the Veluwezoom and the Lage Vuursche. He also painted a lot on the coast of the North Sea. Throughout his life he adhered to the style of the Hague School, in which he had a strong preference for autumnal colours. His paintings are often populated by shepherds with sheep, fishermen with their barges, carts and horses, and farmers with cows: simple people, painted with much love, who almost seem to identify with nature. Scherrewitz had all his life much success in the United States, England and Scotland, where the work of the Haagse Scholers was still in great demand. At a certain point, his paintings were almost impossible to get hold of. Scherrewitz hardly made any effort to exhibit or sell in his own country, partly because interest in the Hague School had reached a low point here after 1914. He was highly praised among artists, but he remained relatively unknown to the Dutch public, no matter how Dutch his themes were. His work can be seen in the Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Enschede, among other places.

Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 35 x 50 cm (excl. frame)