ABSTRACT
In the extensive art historical literature on Dutch painting of the nineteenth century, paintings of ships and the sea have received very little attention. A study of the art historical and cultural historical significance of this so-called marine painting and a representative survey of marine painters of the period are lacking. Art historical knowledge is mainly limited to the seventeenth century, when this specialised genre developed and flourished in the wake of the maritime industry. In the nineteenth century marine painting was less important than it was in the seventeenth century, but it was still alive and well and highly relevant in terms of cultural history. The lack of interest is therefore completely unjustified.
