Putting to Sea

Littlefishing boat coming up alongside a Dutch kaag boat on choppy waters, another small fishing boat closer to the shore at right and several other vessels visible on the horizon with a distant port at right. Wigerus Vitringa (1657-1725) was a lawyer and possibly a poet, as well as a painter and draughtsman and his brother was a leading Dutch theologian. He was born and spent his early life in Friesland in the remote north of Holland before moving to Alkmaar. It is not known who might have trained Vitringa as a marine painter, although his drawings and paintings suggest a link with Ludolf Backhuysen. He had a meticulous drawing style, visible for example in his two drawings in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and primarily produced images of Dutch merchant and fishing ships near ports. Vitringa joined the guild of St Luke in Alkmaar in 1696, but resigned in 1706 because of illness and impaired vision, which prevented him from practising as an artist, although he is known to have produced works after this date.