REINIER NOOMS, THE GREATEST MARINE ETCHER OF THE DUTCH GOLDEN AGE

Reinier Nooms is unanimously regarded as the 17th century’s greatest etcher of ships and cityscapes. Cornelis Danckerts published his major series in 3 suites of 12 etchings each shortly after 1652. We have now succeeded in acquiring the complete suite, consisting of 36 etchings! An extremely rare acquisition with which we are more than pleased!

Reinier Nooms, alias Zeeman

Reinier Nooms, alias Zeeman reached the peak of his career in the middle of the seventeenth century and was surely one of the of Amsterdam’s most distinguished and renowned marine painters. He was born in 1623 or 1624, and probably in Amsterdam. On 6 april 1653, he married Maria Jansdr Mozijn or Mouzijn, the elder sister of the engraver Michiel Mozijn with whom Nooms collaborated at least two times.

Nooms stayed in Paris sometime between 1650 and 1652, when he may have become acquainted with the art of etching, possibly training in the workshop of the marine etcher Michiel van Plattenberg. Shortly after his return from Paris, Reinier Nooms issued a few prints on his own, but he must have entered into a sort of business agreement with Cornelis Danckerts. As in his paintings, the artistic challenge of capturing the atmospheric effects of depth and light is similarly felt in Zeeman’s etchings.

In 1661 Nooms set out for the Mediterranean with a Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter.  The famous admiral was sent to the Barbary coast to put an end to the pirates who had done considerable harm to the Dutch fleet of merchantmen.  During this journey Nooms made numeral sketches.

Zeeman’s last project in the realm of printmaking was the series Large harbour scenes. In 1675 the London print publisher Arthur Tooker stated that he had acquired the plates directly from the artist!.

Nooms’ career lasted no longer than ten years, but in that short period he attained a level that can be regarded as the high point of the 17th-century art of etching.

Drawn from real life

Nooms must have been closely acquainted with the vessels of his time for his etchings are placed on the copper artistically, velvet-soft, like drawings, spontaneously and true to life. His work that has come down to us is of inestimable value to maritime historians and restorers of antique model ships. Nooms brings to life almost all the types of ship then known – no fewer than forty, from impressive man-of war, Straatvaarders (that sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar) and large retourschepen, merchantmen destined for the East Indies, down to the smallest vessels plying the inland waterways. Also, he often names the vessel and/or its type, such as De Vrÿheÿt een Oorlogs Schip (the Freedom, a Warship), De Hasewint een Spaens vaerder or simply Een Smalschip (a narrow vessel). It cannot be denied that he drew these ships from real life.

As well as ships and shipping, a favourite subject of his was the city of his birth, Amsterdam. This port on the river IJ had developed into a metropolis in the 17th century and was regarded as one of the most important centres of trade in Europe. In its harbours there was continual to-ing and fro-ing of merchant vessels and warships, dispatch boats and smaller flat-bottomed vessels used for ferrying goods and passengers along the rivers. At fixed times and from various places in the city the ferries left for Haarlem, Rotterdam, Delft and other major cities. Notable spots in Amsterdam, such as the artificial island known as Bickers Eylandt, the Rokin met de beurs (Rokin with the stock exchange) and important buildings such as the Heerenlogement, the sturdy towers, dating from the Middle Ages, known as the Montelbaanstoren, the Schreierstoren and the Haringpakkerstoren, did not escape his attention and were immortalised in rapid sketches. Reinier Nooms can with some justification be called a reporter and ‘photographer’ avant la lettre, but he was above all one of the Golden Age’s greatest etchers.