304 - Pieter Cornelis Dommersen,

Pieter Cornelis Dommersen, Dutch 1833/34-1918- Boatmen on a canal in a Dutch town; oil on panel, signed with initials and dated 'PCD 85.' (lower left), bears the artist's wax stamp with initials 'PCD' verso, 25.3 x 20.2 cm. Provenance: Charles Roberts Scrace-Dickens (1857-1947), Horsham, Sussex. with Dennis Vanderkar, Wembley, Middlesex. Private Collection, UK. Note: The present work is characteristic of Dommersen's output, very much recalling, for example, another of his peaceful scenes of a Dutch town, of similar proportions, which sold at Bonhams, London, on 16 March 2000, lot 12 (£4,000 hammer). Hailing from the renowned Dommersen family of Amsterdam painters, Pieter Cornelis specialised in painting seascapes, riverscapes, harbour scenes, shipwrecks and seaside views, and was particularly inspired by the maritime works of Hermanus Koekkoek Senior (1815-1882). Having worked in Holland and Brussels, he moved to England in 1860, and there painted quintessentially Dutch seascapes for the British market, such as the present work. He signed his works which were painted in England 'P.C. Dommersen' and those painted in Holland 'P.C. Dommershuijzen'. In England, he exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, and the British Institution amongst others, and, although much acclaimed during his lifetime, as 19th-century maritime scholar Denys Brook-Hart noted, it wasn't until the 1960s when his talents were fully recognised. Several museums and institutions in the United Kingdom hold his paintings, such as the Brighton & Hove Museums, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, and the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, where visitors can view his 'Dutch River Scene' [1940-41.66], a fantastic comparison to the present lot.