Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp (Dordrecht 1612-1652)

This largescale beach scene is among the most impressive of approximately twenty such paintings by Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp, an artist whose work predominantly consists of biblical subjects and scenes of military and peasant life (see I. Ember, 'Benjamin Cuyp, der Genremaler', Acta Historiae Artium, XXVI, 1980, pp. 72-73). Cuyp, the stepbrother and pupil of Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp and uncle of the famed landscape painter Aelbert Cuyp, joined the Dordrecht painters guild in 1631 but moved to The Hague in 1643. It was probably around this time that he first began to paint beach scenes, as indicated by a singular view near Egmond aan Zee dated 1643 that sold Sotheby’s, London, 23 June 1937, lot 42. Indeed, the tower atop elevated dunes at right in this painting recalls contemporary views of Scheveningen, a beach town not far from The Hague.