How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Buy a print or image licence
You can purchase this reproduction
If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
This is a picture of calm. The gleaming water is flat and the reflections are perfect. Even the billowing clouds seem to pause overhead to cast shadows on the river. No wind stirs the sails, no flags lift in a breeze and the men in the boat are crouched and still. The painting could be seen as purely decorative and restorative, but the black dots making a semi-circle on the still water are cork floats defining the outline of a fishing net. Fishing was one of the industries that gave the Dutch Republic its wealth. These fishermen are ordinary working men, thought worthy of a picture because they were part of the pride that the Dutch had in their building of a new nation: the taming of rivers, the digging and reinforcing of canals and dams, the creation of a new land from the sea by hard labour.
Title
A River with Fishermen drawing a Net
Date
1630-5
Medium
Oil on oak
Measurements
H 46.3 x W 62.8 cm
Accession number
NG5846
Acquisition method
Bequeathed by Mrs Mary Venetia James, 1948
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
-
River Landscape with a Sailing Boat Passing Cattle Chequers Court -
River Landscape with Sailing Boats Passing Cottages Chequers Court -
A River Scene with a Ferry Boat National Trust, Polesden Lacey -
The Horse Fair Collection of the Herbarium, Library, Art & Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew -
Wooded River Landscape National Trust for Scotland, Hill of Tarvit Mansionhouse & Garden -
Sailing Boats on a River Guildhall Art Gallery -
River Scene with a Ferry Boat Walker Art Gallery - 32 more