Willy Sluiter (1873-1949)

'Badkoetsen' at the beach of Scheveningen or Katwijk

signed 'Willy Sluiter _' (lower left)

oil on canvas, mounted on board, 30x47 cm

The 'badkoets' - a bathing machine - was a device, popular from the 18th century until the early 20th century, allowing people to change their clothes into swimwear, and wade in the ocean at beaches. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts rolled into the sea. Some had solid wooden walls, others canvas walls over a wooden frame, and commonly walls at the sides and curtained doors at each end. The use of bathing machines was part of the etiquette for sea-bathing. Especially in Britain, men and women were usually segregated, so that people of the opposite sex should not see them in their bathing suits, which (although decent by modern standards) were not considered proper clothing in which to be seen in public.