# A Harbour Scene

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/a-harbour-scene-rd956ef35bbf8e1>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [BERCHEM, Nicolaes](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192>)
- Date: 1651-1700
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 68 x 81 cm

## Commentary

The history of the Dutch seventeenth-century Mediterranean harbour view dates back to Flemish painters like Paul &lt;a onclick=&#34;return OpenOther\(&#39;/html/b/bril/paul/the\_port.html&#39;\)&#34; href=&#34;/html/b/bril/paul/the\_port.html&#34;&gt;Bril&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a onclick=&#34;return OpenOther\(&#39;/html/b/bruegel/jan\_e/1/fishmark.html&#39;\)&#34; href=&#34;/html/b/bruegel/jan\_e/1/fishmark.html&#34;&gt;Jan Brueghel the Elder,&lt;/a&gt; who inspired the Italian artists Agostino &lt;a onclick=&#34;return OpenOther\(&#39;/html/t/tassi/2coral\_f.html&#39;\)&#34; href=&#34;/html/t/tassi/2coral\_f.html&#34;&gt;Tassi&lt;/a&gt; and Filippo Napoletano. These Italians, in turn, exerted enormous influence on &lt;a onclick=&#34;return OpenOther\(&#39;/html/c/claude/1/021medit.html&#39;\)&#34; href=&#34;/html/c/claude/1/021medit.html&#34;&gt;Claude Lorrain,&lt;/a&gt; who combined elaborate fantasy palaces and classical ruins with ordinary genre scenes and turned them into a new type of seaport painting. The Mediterranean harbour view became a popular subject with Dutch Italianate painters active in Rome, &lt;a onclick=&#34;return OpenOther\(&#39;/html/w/weenix/jan\_fath/oriental.html&#39;\)&#34; href=&#34;/html/w/weenix/jan\_fath/oriental.html&#34;&gt;Jan Baptist Weenix,&lt;/a&gt; Jan Asselyn and &lt;a onclick=&#34;return OpenOther\(&#39;/html/p/pynacker/harbour.html&#39;\)&#34; href=&#34;/html/p/pynacker/harbour.html&#34;&gt;Adam Pynacker.&lt;/a&gt; Berchem never visited Italy, he drew inspiration for his Italianate harbour views from the paintings of Jan Baptist Weenix and Jan Asselyn, which are characterized by a fictitious combination of well-known classical buildings in a landscape with genre figures.

## Related artworks

- [A Southern Harbour Scene](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/a-southern-harbour-scene-rd62cf65f53581c>)
- [A Standing Shepherd](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/a-standing-shepherd-r4016a12fe87cfc>)
- [A Young Woman Tuning a Lute](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/a-young-woman-tuning-a-lute-r01477b2c3a1c90>)
- [An Italianate Landscape](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/an-italianate-landscape-r1351aa5f661ddb>)
- [Animal Study](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/animal-study-r99e7d9d62f5794>)
- [Evening Landscape](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/evening-landscape-r4ae61d68f2b520>)
- [Evening Landscape with Drovers and their Animals](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/evening-landscape-with-drovers-and-their-animals-r87a62701307073>)
- [Herdsmen and Herds at a Waterfall](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/herdsmen-and-herds-at-a-waterfall-r3f1fe19bd3d8c2>)
- [Hunters Resting](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/hunters-resting-red22998024e3a0>)
- [Italian Landscape at Sunset](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/italian-landscape-at-sunset-r74a8f8fc014be3>)
- [Italian Landscape with Bridge](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/italian-landscape-with-bridge-re31feab23793ed>)
- [Italian Landscape with Mountain Plateau \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/berchem-nicolaes-recc5d504ed1192/italian-landscape-with-mountain-plateau-detail-r902c7e0364365e>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)