Scene in the harbour

A view of the harbour shot from above with the red brick buildings visible on the left and the open square in the foreground showing scenes of life on the river. There are merchants, animals with attached barrels, women talking and children playing. In the distance on the right, a large two-masted galley with coiled Latin-type sails manoeuvres on the water. Seafarers operating the distinctive long oars can be seen on deck. There are superstructures for the officers at the bow and stern of the ship. The bow section is covered by an ornate tent, shielding the sailors from the sun. In the centre of the scene, a Dutch-type commercial boat with a distinctive bulb-shaped hull sails with a single set sail. A similar vessel has moored off the coast to unload or load its goods. In the distance, the estuary is visible on the horizon, flanked by two towers. The sky is filled with rolling clouds. From the 16th century onwards, under the rule of the Spanish Habsburg line, Dutch shipping began to take part in the colonial trade, thanks to which the local ports developed rapidly. Port vedutas and seascapes thus became popular in modern Dutch art. The presented Scene in the harbour is an example of this tendency. The method of perspective proposed here – in the form of an overhead view – originated from the painterly school of the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1569). The author of the painting in the Szczecin collection was probably an artist from the circle of followers of Mathijs Schoevaerdts (c. 1665-before 1725). This Brussels painter, who initially also worked under the influence of Bruegel, was known for his numerous small-scale landscapes in which he included a variety of genre scenes that included elaborate staffage. Justyna Bądkowska