Wijnand Jan Josephus Nuijen (4 March 1813 – 2 June 1839) was a Dutch painter and printmaker who specialised in landscapes, and was greatly influenced by the French Romantics.

Biography

Born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

(Den Haag) to a baker father who recognised his son's talent, Nuijen was apprenticed at age twelve to

Andreas Schelfhout Andreas Schelfhout (1787–1870) was a Dutch painter, etcher and lithographer, known for his landscape paintings. Schelfhout belongs to the Romantic movement. His Dutch winter scenes and frozen canals with skaters were already famous during hi ...

, a local artist. Between 1825 and 1829 he studied at the Den Haag Tekenacademie, under Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove. In his short lifespan Nuijen became a prolific painter of rural and marine landscapes, spending much time on the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and northern French coasts. Here he fell under the spell of painters who were working in France, such as

Richard Parkes Bonington Richard Parkes Bonington (25 October 1802 – 23 September 1828) was an English Romantic landscape painter, who moved to France at the age of 14 and can also be considered as a French artist, and an intermediary bringing aspects of English sty ...

(1802–1828) and

Eugène Isabey Eugène Louis Gabriel Isabey (22 July 1803, in Paris – 25 April 1886, in Montévrain) was a French painter, lithographer and watercolorist in the Romantic style. Biography He was born to Jean-Baptiste Isabey, a well known painter who ...

(1803–1886), both of whom painted picturesque villages, Normandy harbours and seascapes, with a spontaneity Nuijen admired and adopted. His preoccupation with ruins is typically Romantic and his use of colour and texture is reminiscent of the watercolours of

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

. The ''Felix Meritis'' society of

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 ...

awarded him a medal in 1829 for his watercolour of a forest landscape. On completion of his tuition he travelled to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, France and Germany, at times with his painting companion Antonie Waldorp 803–1866 Nuijen became a member of the Koninklijke Akademie in Amsterdam in 1836, and just before his death he married the daughter of Schelfhout, his former tutor.Aujourdhui
/ref> Nuijen died in The Hague on 2 June 1839. Nuijen was unusual among Dutch painters of the period, his theatricality and liberal style contrasting with the near photographic depiction that was then the norm. King William II greatly admired Nuijen's work, and when he bought the ''"Shipwreck"'' in 1843 he already owned five other Nuijen paintings.

Paintings

Image:Wijnand Nuijen02.jpg, W. Nuijen, ''Ships in a French Harbor at Low Tide'', 1836, black chalk and watercolor on paper, 31.2 x 38.6 cm

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

File:A busy port in Normandy, by Wijnand Nuijen.jpg, W, Nuijen, ''A busy port in Normandy'', 1836, oil on canvas, 81 x 110 cm,

Teylers Museum Teylers Museum () is an art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval R ...

Image:Wijnand Nuijen01.jpg, W, Nuijen,''Shipwreck on a Rocky Coast'', 1837, oil on canvas, 154 x 206 cm,

File:Wijnand Nuijen - Een vismarkt - SA 1938 - Amsterdam Museum.jpg, W. Nuijen, 1838: ''A Fish-market'', oil on canvas, 19.2 x 15.5 cm,

Amsterdam Museum The Amsterdam Museum, known until 2010 as the Amsterdam Historical Museum, is an Amsterdam-based museum dedicated to the city's past and present. Due to the renovation of its main location, the museum is temporarily located in the building the Amst ...

Image:Wijnand Nuijen - Spelevaren.jpg, W, Nuijen, ''Out Boating'', 1839, oil on canvas, 77 x 104 cm, private collection

References

External links

*
free images of paintings and prints of W. Nuijen
website Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
biographical facts and dates of W. Nuijen
in the Dutch R.K.D. Archive, The Hague {{DEFAULTSORT:Nuijen, Wijnand Jan Josephus 19th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters Dutch landscape painters Dutch romantic painters Painters of ruins 1813 births 1839 deaths Artists from The Hague Romantic painters 19th-century Dutch male artists