Cornelis de Man, The Whale-oil Refinery near the Village of Smerenburg
Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt · Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamView original →
Cornelis de Man

The Whale-oil Refinery near the Village of Smerenburg

1639

Current Collection

Rijksmuseum

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Medium
canvas
Dimensions
108 × 205 cm
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-107466

Smerenburg on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen was a settlement of Dutch whalers. As the painter never went there, he combined familiar images and stories in this work. The mountain at the left is probably on Jan Mayen Island. Strips of whale blubber are boiled and rendered into train (whale) oil in the numerous try-pots on the beach. The men’s barracks are visible in the right background.

Provenance

Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

Registry history

  • 1639 — Recorded in the collection of Rijksmuseum

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