Painting Lot A-81032
W.R. Dommersen (1850 – 1927)
Figures by the River Amstel

Oil on canvas, 49 x 69 cm

Painting

In this painting, a Dutch landscape is pictured. The bank of a river with all its activities. In the front, six human beings are working. Further backwards there is a big house with a tower, possibly a lighthouse. In front of the house is a ship ready to take off while the sails are being hoisted.In the background on the left is a city visible with its towers and church.The composition of this painting and its depth are exceptional. This painting ‘Figures by the river Amstel is signed on the lower right. The painting is framed with a gold painted 19th-century frame.

Painter

William Raymond Dommersen was the son of a highly regarded art painter Pieter Cornelis Dommersen.  No doubt they influenced each other’s techniques – there is a marked similarity in style. The family’s original surname was ‘Dommershuizen’ but changed into ‘Dommersen’ once they made England a permanent home in the late 1800s. He is most famous for his paintings of towns and villages along Dutch rivers and canals, as well as his marine subjects and his street scenes. Agricultural and marine types can be viewed in nearly all his works. His signed his works with: ‘P.C. Dommerson’, ‘P.C. Dommershuizen’, ‘P.C. Dommelshuizen’, ‘P.C. Dommershuyzen’, or ‘PCD’.  William Raymond Dommersen is included in the National Art History Documentation Center (RKD) in The Hague, Netherlands, and in the ‘Lexicon Dutch Visual Artists 1750 – 1950’ by Pieter A. Scheen.