A River with Fishermen drawing a Net

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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This is a picture of calm. The gleaming water is flat and the reflections are perfect. Even the billowing clouds seem to pause overhead to cast shadows on the river. No wind stirs the sails, no flags lift in a breeze and the men in the boat are crouched and still. The painting could be seen as purely decorative and restorative, but the black dots making a semi-circle on the still water are cork floats defining the outline of a fishing net. Fishing was one of the industries that gave the Dutch Republic its wealth. These fishermen are ordinary working men, thought worthy of a picture because they were part of the pride that the Dutch had in their building of a new nation: the taming of rivers, the digging and reinforcing of canals and dams, the creation of a new land from the sea by hard labour.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A River with Fishermen drawing a Net

Date

1630-5

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 46.3 x W 62.8 cm

Accession number

NG5846

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Mrs Mary Venetia James, 1948

Work type

Painting

Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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