Large Victorian coastal marine painting by E. W. Cooke, R.A., 1842

Titled 'Dutch fisherman warping their craft out of Broeckenhaven Harbour, Holland,' this superb marine landscape painting depicts a coastal scene of Dutch fisherman battling the forces of the sea just out of harbour, and was painted by leading Victorian artist Edward William Cooke, R.A., F.R.S., (1811-1880).

Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1842, the year of its execution, it is a masterly work of Victorian marine and landscape painting, exemplifying both the Romantic attachment the British have for this genre, and the influence of Dutch art and landscapes upon it.

Cooke's oeuvre of the 1840's and early 50's contained many Dutch coastal scenes. Though a quintessential staple of Victorian painting, British Romantic marine painting was heavily indebted to earlier Dutch art and Old Masters paintings of the 17th century, which Cooke sought to honour and replicate in his own work, with paintings such as this and 'A North Sea Breeze off the Dutch coast', 1855, held in the National Maritime Museum, London.

The present scene shows 'Broeckenhaven', most likely present day 'Broekerhaven' Harbour in Stede Broec, a municipality of North Hollland, and depicts one larger sailing vessel, chopped about in the rough waters, next to a smaller vessel being hauled in by a figure on the pier in the right hand side of the canvas. The view extends back towards land in the distance. This is a common quirk in Cooke's paintings, which often show shipping villages, towers or churches in the background, as a way of combining both Marine view and coastal archictecture.

The painting is signed, situated, and dated, 'E.W. Cooke, 1842' to the lower right, and titled to the reverse. It is housed in a large giltwood frame.

Frame: height 92cm, width 128cm, depth 6.5cm
Canvas: height 77cm, width 122cm