Merchant Ships

Reinier Nooms was a painter and etcher who harbored a great love of the sea. He spent many years as a sailor on Dutch merchant vessels traveling between his native Amsterdam and ports in France, Italy, and North Africa. As a reflection of his nautical background, he frequently signed his name as “Zeeman,” or, “Seaman.” This signature appears among the clouds at the top of the etching seen here, one of 170 he produced. Nooms’s realistic detail comes directly from his seafaring experience, whether in his depiction of ships, ports, or naval battles. His etchings of ships and views of Paris would inspire later artists such as the 19th-century French etcher Charles Meryon.