Floor plan

Artist galleriesReinier Nooms, called Zeeman's contemporaries

Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman's contemporaries

A sage-green harbor teems with more than a dozen sailing ships and rowboats under a pale gray sky in this horizontal painting. The horizon comes about one-fifth of the way up the composition, and dark gray and white clouds tower above. Light filters onto the scene through the clouds from our left to fall across the ships while casting shadows on the water nearest us. Painted in tones of slate gray and warm brown, most of the ships closest to us have their sails furled so the masts and horizontal yard arms bristle against the sky. The larger ships have cannons poking out of square portholes. On our right, a war ship floats with its ornately carved and gilded stern facing us. A flag flying from the tallest of the three masts has red, white, and green stripes. The artist painted his name on that flag, “R. Zeeman.” The ship is tied to a buoy with a length of rope, and an empty rowboat is tethered to the right side of the ship. A similar ship but with the sails hanging loosely is tied to a buoy just beyond this one. A row of pickets, like a fence, extends into the water behind these two ships. To our left, a rowboat full of men has pulled up alongside a partially sunken ship, its masts tilting toward us. A few people stand on two more ships nearby. A black temporary dock floats next to the leftmost ship here. A person mixes something that smokes on the platform, and another person stands on a board lifted halfway up the ship’s side, presumably working on a repair. Two women in another rowboat next to the floating dock lean over the side, washing clothes. Another fence encloses the harbor to our left, and a hut in the middle of the harbor is surrounded by a similar structure. Two rowboats closer to us are filled with men wearing tall hats and black or brown coats, and women wearing black bonnets and white shawls. More sailing ships and rowboats move back or around beyond the harbor, out to sea. Visible cracks cover the surface of the painting.
A Young Man with a Chain, by Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1629 or 1632
Landscape with Travelers, by Herman van Swanevelt, 1630s
A windmill stands on a promontory cutting into a waterway under a partially stormy sky in this square landcape painting. The promontory and mill are painted in muted tones of brown and rust orange, while steel-gray and white clouds encircle a topaz-blue sky above. The promontory juts into the scene from our left, and the front of the windmill is angled to our right so its golden-tan sails catch the light. Silvery water winds around the base of the promontory and extends to a dark green, shadowy bank on the far side. A boat in the lower right corner of the composition is rowed by a man wearing a red jacket and cap. A path runs to the water’s edge from the left edge of the painting, in front of the promontory’s retaining wall, which is shored up with stones or panels. A person in dark clothing close to the windmill seems to rest their arms on the retaining wall, their back to us. Closer to us, a woman holds a child’s hand as they walk down the path to the bank. A bearded man with tattered brown clothes and bare feet stands leaning against the wall near a woman wearing burnt-orange garment. She sits or kneels at the water’s edge in front of a basket of clothes and holds up a brown cloth. The olive-green forms of the trees on the far bank are reflected in the water, and closer inspection reveals two cows near the water there. Charcoal-gray clouds pile up along the left of the painting and span the top edge. There is a brilliant blue sky beyond and a screen of white clouds near the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the canvas.
Travelers in Hilly Countryside, by Aelbert Cuyp, c. 1650

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

A few works by Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman, then their contemporaries: makers of the same nationality born within 25 years of them, then works from the same century and place.

With their contemporaries

  1. A sage-green harbor teems with more than a dozen sailing ships and rowboats under a pale gray sky in this horizontal painting. The horizon comes about one-fifth of the way up the composition, and dark gray and white clouds tower above. Light filters onto the scene through the clouds from our left to fall across the ships while casting shadows on the water nearest us. Painted in tones of slate gray and warm brown, most of the ships closest to us have their sails furled so the masts and horizontal yard arms bristle against the sky. The larger ships have cannons poking out of square portholes. On our right, a war ship floats with its ornately carved and gilded stern facing us. A flag flying from the tallest of the three masts has red, white, and green stripes. The artist painted his name on that flag, “R. Zeeman.” The ship is tied to a buoy with a length of rope, and an empty rowboat is tethered to the right side of the ship. A similar ship but with the sails hanging loosely is tied to a buoy just beyond this one. A row of pickets, like a fence, extends into the water behind these two ships. To our left, a rowboat full of men has pulled up alongside a partially sunken ship, its masts tilting toward us. A few people stand on two more ships nearby. A black temporary dock floats next to the leftmost ship here. A person mixes something that smokes on the platform, and another person stands on a board lifted halfway up the ship’s side, presumably working on a repair. Two women in another rowboat next to the floating dock lean over the side, washing clothes. Another fence encloses the harbor to our left, and a hut in the middle of the harbor is surrounded by a similar structure. Two rowboats closer to us are filled with men wearing tall hats and black or brown coats, and women wearing black bonnets and white shawls. More sailing ships and rowboats move back or around beyond the harbor, out to sea. Visible cracks cover the surface of the painting.
    Amsterdam Harbor SceneReinier Nooms, called Zeeman, c. 1654/1655Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A Young Man with a Chain, by Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1629 or 1632
    A Young Man with a ChainRembrandt van Rijn, c. 1629 or 1632Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Landscape with Travelers, by Herman van Swanevelt, 1630s
    Landscape with TravelersHerman van Swanevelt, 1630sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Their contemporaries

  1. A windmill stands on a promontory cutting into a waterway under a partially stormy sky in this square landcape painting. The promontory and mill are painted in muted tones of brown and rust orange, while steel-gray and white clouds encircle a topaz-blue sky above. The promontory juts into the scene from our left, and the front of the windmill is angled to our right so its golden-tan sails catch the light. Silvery water winds around the base of the promontory and extends to a dark green, shadowy bank on the far side. A boat in the lower right corner of the composition is rowed by a man wearing a red jacket and cap. A path runs to the water’s edge from the left edge of the painting, in front of the promontory’s retaining wall, which is shored up with stones or panels. A person in dark clothing close to the windmill seems to rest their arms on the retaining wall, their back to us. Closer to us, a woman holds a child’s hand as they walk down the path to the bank. A bearded man with tattered brown clothes and bare feet stands leaning against the wall near a woman wearing burnt-orange garment. She sits or kneels at the water’s edge in front of a basket of clothes and holds up a brown cloth. The olive-green forms of the trees on the far bank are reflected in the water, and closer inspection reveals two cows near the water there. Charcoal-gray clouds pile up along the left of the painting and span the top edge. There is a brilliant blue sky beyond and a screen of white clouds near the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the canvas.
    The MillRembrandt van Rijn, 1645/1648Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Travelers in Hilly Countryside, by Aelbert Cuyp, c. 1650
    Travelers in Hilly CountrysideAelbert Cuyp, c. 1650Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Their contemporaries, second

  1. An elegantly dressed man and woman ride horses toward us and to our right in a landscape with low, rolling hills, stone buildings, and trees in this horizontal painting. The two horses and riders take up the right half of the composition. Both people have pale skin and look at us. The woman has a high forehead, a straight nose, a round face, and curly blond hair falling to her shoulders. She wears a sapphire-blue dress with slashed sleeves to reveal a white garment beneath. Her hat is adorned with blue and white feathers, and she wears a string of pearls around her neck. The legs of her white horse darken to black below the knees, and the bridle is tied with blue bows near the horse’s ears. The sidesaddle sits on a woven, rug-like blanket. Next to her, to our right, the man rides a larger chestnut-brown horse with a white triangle between its eyes. The man looks at us out of the corners of his dark eyes under gathered brows. He has a long, straight nose and is cleanshaven, though a hint of a five o’clock shadow slightly darkens his cleft chin. His light brown hair falls in curls down past his shoulders, and he wears a dark brown coat with voluminous white fabric rippling out above tan-colored gloves. He holds a riding crop in his right hand, on our left, resting against his hip. Near the white horse’s feet, to our left, a dark brown dog with a white nose sniffs at a plant. Behind it, another reddish-brown dog sniffs the ground near the horse’s back hoof. A third dog stands beyond, partially obscured by bushes and plants growing in the lower left corner of the canvas. A man wearing a tall black, wide-brimmed hat and carrying a long staff leads two slender dogs resembling grayhounds on leashes along the path, a little behind the riders. Two more elegantly dressed men ride horses toward us father back on the path. Sand-colored stone buildings, hazy in the distance, are clustered around a squared tower, possibly a bell tower, to our left. The land dips gently to the horizon line in the deep distance. The riders are silhouetted against a swirling slate-blue cloud that fills most of the sky in the top two-thirds of the painting. The sky clears to pale blue to our left and then warms to golden yellow along the horizon, beyond the buildings. The artist signed the painting near the lower left corner: “A. Cuijp.”
    Lady and Gentleman on HorsebackAelbert Cuyp, c. 1655, reworked 1660/1665Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. The Meeting of Christ with Martha and Mary after the Death of Lazarus, by Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1662–65
    The Meeting of Christ with Martha and Mary after the Death of LazarusRembrandt van Rijn, c. 1662–65Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    The Music LessonGerard ter Borch the Younger, c. 1670Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago