Johannes Christiaan SCHOTEL
Dordrecht 1787 - Dordrecht 1838
Biography
Following a brief career as a soldier, Johannes Schotel was trained in Dordrecht by the marine painter Martinus Schouman, and rose to become one of the leading maritime artists of his day in Holland. He was an experienced sailor in his own right, and was particularly admired for his depiction of the sea in all its moods and his ability to capture effects of light. Alongside Schouman, Schotel may be credited with reviving the art of marine painting in Holland in the 19th century, following a decline in the previous century. He was a member of the artist’s society Pictura in Dordrecht, and exhibited in Haarlem, The Hague and Amsterdam. He also produced a number of lithographs, and near the end of his life travelled to France and Belgium. His son, Petrus Johannes Schotel (1808-1865), was also active as a painter of seascapes.
The 20th century art historian Pieter Scheen notes that J. C. Schotel produced 214 paintings and around 275 drawings and watercolours. Paintings by the elder Schotel are in the museums of Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Haarlem, Otterlo and Rotterdam, as well as in Hannover, Munich, Nancy and Stuttgart. A large number of drawings by the artist, numbering around a hundred sheets, is today in the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam, while other groups of drawings are in the Teylers Museum in Haarlem and the Boijmans-van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.
