American Seascape Painting by Hermann Herzog of Fishing Boats

HERMANN OTTOMAR HERZOG
German/American, 1832-1932

“Fishing Trawlers off the Coast”

Oil on canvas | signed lower right “H. Herzog”

Item # 101BKD28S
A vibrant and bright seascape that likely depicts the Belgian coast as fishing trawlers bring in their sails and come ashore from the morning’s catch. The seas were a favorite for Herzog and he returned to them repeatedly throughout his career, first with many paintings along the coast of the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium and later with views of the North American coast in Maine and Florida.

The present work shows the atmospheric influence of the Dutch masters, the overall palette being of low saturation and creating a sense of drama in the light and sweeping cloud cover. A steamship passes along the horizon while the powerful clouds open up to reveal the beach in the distance with a lighthouse situated at the horizon. The viewer is intimately drawn into the scene as the nearly translucent teal water laps gently on the edge of the sand where a plank has washed ashore, catching the faint rays of sunlight chased through the various layers of clouds and reflecting them back on the viewer chaotically.

The work is priced very attractively in light of the restoration that was completed on the painting over the years.

Measurements: 20 1/4″ H x 27 1/4″ W [canvas]; 26 1/8″ H x 33 1/8″ W [frame]
Condition Report: Cleaned and carefully restored by our conservator and sealed in traditional damar varnish; surface presents with slight grime in the lower recesses of the oil that could not be safely removed; relined during the mid-20th century on linen and attached to a new stretcher [likely the same time the painting along the edges was revealed and the hole in the sky was repaired]. Under UV examination: vertical edges with a line of filling and inpainting around the margins from the canvas likely being originally tacked to stretchers that were slightly narrower and the painting was opened up a bit on the new stretchers; inpainting to repaired hole on left side of sky, the brush strokes a bit muddy; scattered inpainting and pin-prick touchups throughout the sky and water, numerous areas of inpainting to and below the rightmost boat. Light craquelure throughout. Frame is a modernn replacement and it does not fit the painting very well, being ever-so-slightly too large around the edges; it does provide a nice clean viewing of the painting until a more appropriate frame can be placed on the painting.