The Scheldt, Texel Island

Een gravure van Robert Wallis naar een schilderij van Clarkson Stanfield uit 1844




From the Art-Journal, page 103

The Vernon Gallery

The Scheldt, TEXEL ISLAND
C. Stanfield, R.A., Painter. Robert Wallis, Engraver


THIS picture, which is an excellent specimen of another of those various efforts of Mr. Stanfield's pencil, of which we spoke in a previous number, formed one of the principal ornaments of the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1844.

As a work of Art it belongs, like most of tbe works of this painter, strictly to the class objective; the treatment is purely natural.
The subject of the picture is the Old or Oude Schild, Texel Island, on the northern extremity of Holland; the view looking towards Nieuwe Diep, and the Zuider Zee; a stiff breeze blowing.

The whole picture expresses squally weather - clouds, land, and water; and the effect of the blast is not better expressed in the swelling sails, than in the white crested wave. Everything is wet, cold, and windy in spite of the sun - a natural picture of disagreeables of unpleasantly frequent occurrence on the muddy shores of the Texel.
The ruined picturesque mill on the right speaks of many such storms in the past; while on the other hand the vessels riding in the offing proclaim the safe roadstead of Texel harbour, the refuge of many a shattered vessel after the rival contests of Dutch and English fleets in the eventful times of Blake and Van Tromp.

The picture is full of incident, and the preparation of the busy female in the small fishing-vessel in the foreground, with her good store of vegetables, and capacious cauldron, remind us that there are means even of counteracting the effects of the chilling storm, which, notwithstanding the partial burst of sunshine, evidently hangs over the scene.
Yet the peculiarities of the bleak Northern sea, even when so faithfully represented as we find them here, become in a corresponding degree as attractive in a picture as they are unpleasant in reality.
Such is the charm of true Art, the murky clouds and the muddy waves of the Zuider Zee, rival in interest the sunny skies and azure waters of Italy.
The picture has received ample justice from the hands of the engraver.

The print may be regarded among the best of Mr. Wallis's works; the water is full of motion, and the gleam of sunshine which lightens up the centre of the picture has been well preserved: the whole scene betokens animation. Mr. Stanfield has expressed to us his entire approbation of the engraving.