Questroyal 2009

Mauritz Frederik Hendrik de Haas ( 1832 – 1895 ) Plate 14 Seascape with Ships Oil on canvas 15 1 / 8 x 23 1 / 8 inches Signed lower left: MFH de Haas provenance Private collection, Dallas If [De Haas] can not actually control the winds and the waves, he has succeeded in being controlled by them to that degree that the very genii of ocean and sky seem to move on his canvases. The Aldine, the Art Journal of America, 1877 1 Mauritz Frederik Hendrik de Haas is not only a representative Brooklyn artist, but probably the most noted marine-painter in this country. Endowed by nature with the genius to paint . . .[H]is name has become almost associated with the thought of the ocean itself. eugene f. beecher, art critic, 1878 2 Noted Painter of the Seas In 1859 , Mauritz de Haas left his successful painting career in Holland for the promise of America. 3 Upon arriving in New York City, the artist experi- enced an almost meteoric rise as a marine painter. He was quickly inducted into the National Academy of Design and widely recognized as “a clever and painstaking artist.” 4 Critics lauded De Haas’s depictions of the ocean’s atmospheric effects: “His distances melt into fogs and do not fade into the sight.” 5 Another critic admired De Haas’s “fidelity to nature, vigor of execu- tion, [and] brilliancy, with irridescent [sic] effects.” 6 Seascape with Ships bears witness to these claims. The canvas balances the beauty of streaming light and a soft mountain view with the perilous reality of the choppy waves. Such artistic deft demonstrates that the praise heaped on De Haas by his contemporaries was richly deserved. — sjs De Haas’s paintings are featured in the collections of the New-York Historical Society, National Academy Museum,Yale University Art Gallery,Museum of Arts and Sciences, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1 “A Rain Squall,” The Aldine, the Art Journal of America (May, 1, 1877 ): 9 . 2 Eugene F. Beecher, The Brooklyn Monthly 1 , no. 7 (January 1878 ): 3 . 3 Ibid., 4 . 4 “Art and Artists in NewYork,” The Independent (May 12, 1881 ): 7 . 5 Ibid. 6 Beecher, 4 .