Piet Mondrian (1872-1944)

The present oil study depicts the Stadhouderskade--a segment of the roadway bordering on its outer edge the Singel canal, which at that point encompassed the outer limits of Amsterdam--and served as a highly finished study for a larger watercolor. The principle boat depicted is not a fishing vessel but a tjalk, the most common type of large cargo barge employed within the inland waterways of the Netherlands since the seventeenth century.

According to Robert Welsh, "Mondrian must have considered this version in oil of special interest in his oeuvre, seeing that he eventually gave it to his friend J. Siedenburg, a writer who eventually became director of the prestigious Amsterdam art firm, Fr. Buffa" (op. cit., p. 233).