Johannes Frederik Hulk Snr., 
Dutch 1829-1911- 
A bustling canal scene with figures unloading a...

Johannes Frederik Hulk Snr., 
Dutch 1829-1911- 

A bustling canal scene with figures unloading a barge; 

oil on canvas, bears signature 'W. Koekkoek' (lower right), 63.5 x 80.5 cm., (unframed). 

Provenance: 
Private Collection, UK. 

Note: 
Johannes Frederik Hulk was a member of a famous Amsterdam family of artists, and received tuition from his brother, Abraham Hulk Snr. (1813-1897), as well as from the artist Kaspar Karsen (1810-1896). Johannes Frederik in turn trained his son, Johannes Frederick Hulk Jnr. (1855-1913) and the Hague School painter Bernard de Hoog (1867-1943). Unlike his brother Abraham, who specialised in maritime painting, Johannes Frederik focused instead on street scenes of the villages and towns of the 19th-century Netherlands, evoking the bustling streets with sharply observed detail, combined with areas of looser, gestural brushwork, imbuing his scenes with a sense of busyness and movement. 
The picture presented here is a particularly fine example of Hulk's output, and shows his ability to create depth within in the picture plane, drawing the viewer's eye from the sunlit street through to the water and church spire beyond. It is possible that the distinctive tower, with its ball finial, may be that of the Westerkerk in Amsterdam, the painter's home city and one of his most frequently revisited subjects.  
Hulk was an active member of the Amsterdam artistic scene, running a thriving photography studio and artists' supplies business alongside his painting practice. He also joined the artists' society 'Arti et Amicitiae' (for Art and Friendship), of which fellow Romantic School townscape painters Adrianus Eversen (1818-1897) and Cornelis Springer (1817-1891) were also members. 
A canal scene showing many similarities to the present lot, which also depicts Hulk's typical subject of a bustling canal rendered in his characteristic warm-hued palette, was offered at Christie's, London, 10 November 2005, lot 484 (£26,000).

The present picture was previously believed to have been painted by Willem Koekkoek (1838-1895), who painted many similarly refined cityscapes in Amsterdam. We are grateful to the RKD, and to Mr. Christiaan Lucht for confirming the current attribution to Johannes Frederik Hulk on the basis of photographs.