Johannes "Jan" Zoetelief Tromp (Dutch, 1872-1947)

Johannes "Jan" Zoetelief Tromp (Dutch, 1872-1947), "The Toy Sailboat", oil on canvas, signed lower right, auction label on stretcher, 31 1/2 in. x 39 1/2 in., framed Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, May 23, 1990, lot 238. Note: Jan Zoetelief Tromp studied at the Academy of Arts of The Hague and Rijks Academie of Amsterdam, headed by the genre and still life painter, August Allebé, who influenced him greatly. Tromp’s style and themes were similar to those of the Laren School painters, and he moved to Blaricum in 1899. Like others in the Laren School, he chose local children and their parents in and around their farmhouses as his subjects. Beginning in 1905, Tromp and his family spent their summers in the coastal village of Katwijk, where eventually they would live on a permanent basis. His work evolved into a more flowing, impressionistic style with a luminous palette and focused on scenes of children in the local landscape, with or without their parents. In the charming work offered here, three children play with a toy sailboat along the shoreline, overlooked by a distant line of figures. The delightful scene radiates joy and the optimistic view innate to the artist.
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