Adam Silo (

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, 25 December 1674 - Amsterdam, 1760) was a Dutch painter who specialized in maritime scenes — particularly naval ships, but also trading and

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

vessels. He also wrote books on art and gave drawing lessons to Russian Tsar

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

Paintings by Silo can be found at the Amsterdams Historisch Museum in Amsterdam, the Maritiem Museum Rotterdam, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, the National Maritime Museum in London and the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

in Vienna, among others. The Hermitage, for instance, has a 1730s work by Silo showing fleet maneuvers in the

Zuiderzee The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee (; old spelling ''Zuyderzee'' or ''Zuyder Zee'') was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km (60 miles) inland and at most 50 km (30 miles) wide, with an o ...

during Peter the Great's visit to Amsterdam. The Amsterdams Historisch Museum has the only dated painting by Silo, showing a fleet of whalers off Amsterdam: ''Het IJ met een vloot walvisvaarders gezien vanaf het bolwerk Blauwhoofd'' (1729). Silo was born on Christmas Day, 1674, and baptized on the 30th. At the age of 21, when he married, he was making gold thread and also worked as a ship's carpenter. He later worked, until the age of 30, as a master ship's builder and sea captain. Around 1694, he became a pupil of the artist

Theodor van Pee Theodorus van Pee (1668–1746) was an 18th-century painter and art dealer from the Northern Netherlands. Biography Born in Amsterdam in 1668 or 1669, he was a son of the painter Jan van Pee and his wife Hendrika. His father moved to Antwer ...

(circa 1668-1746) and learned to paint. In 1697, he gave instruction in the drawing of ships to Peter the Great, who was visiting Amsterdam at the time. Notes made by the tsar during these lessons have survived. Peter the Great also purchased some of Silo's paintings. The multitalented Silo produced not only paintings but also prints and drawings, which also exclusively depicted maritime scenes. Over 20 etchings by Silo are known. He also experimented with the mezzotint technique. In his later years, he worked as an instrument builder, making musical instruments, binoculars, magnifying glasses, and telescopes, among others. He also produced wax models. Silo wrote a number of books, including ''Afteekeningen van verscheidene soorten en charters van schepen en andere vaartuigen'' ("Drawings of various types of ships and other vessels", 1757). He lived to over 80 years of age, and was buried on 8 October 1760 at the Leidse Kerkhof cemetery in Amsterdam.

Sources

Artnet / Grove Dictionary of ArtKollenburg Antiquairs
(Dutch, archived) * Jan Wagenaar, ''Amsterdam in zyne opkomst, aanwas, geschiedenissen, voorregten, koophandel, gebouwen, kerkenstaat, schoolen, schutterye, gilden en regeeringe'' (1767), deel 11, pp. 435–436 (Dutch) *Hendrick Collot d'Escury van Heinenoord, ''Holland's roem in kunsten en wetenschappen'' (1826), deel 3, p. 29 (Dutch) * Jacobus Kok, ''Vaderlandsch woordenboek'' (1792), deel 27-28, p. 83 (Dutch)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silo, Adam 1674 births 1760 deaths 18th-century Dutch painters 18th-century Dutch male artists Painters from Amsterdam Dutch male painters Dutch marine artists