A wonderful bright and clean antique oil painting depicting boats at low tide with groups of sailors and boat folk signed and dated by Belgian artist Desiré Donny and dated 1853. The detail in this painting is amazing. On the right side there is a ship grounded on land with a team of horses ready to help pull it back out to sea and a group of men leaning on the boat ready to help push from the back side. Around the scene are various other groups of fisherman, a family with the husband saying goodbye to his wife and children, and many other things going on in this painting. The sky is bright and blue, and there are bright colored clothing on the people in the scenes.

Desiré Donny was a Belgian artist who lived from 1798-18861. His highest auction price realized was in 2016 for $28,050 according to the AskArt Database.

From Wikipedia:

Désiré Donny ( Bruges , 1798 - Brussels , 1861 ) was a Belgian painter from the Romantic School .

He was the son of Jean Joseph Donny, a clerk of the scissors and a fervent advocate of the attachment of the Southern Netherlands to the French Republic, and of Marie-Josephe Christiaens. [1] He received his training at the Art Academy of Bruges and subsequently became a teacher there. But he later worked in Frankfurt and then largely in Brussels. [2]

He painted many marines and animated faces with fishing boats or tree barges at low tide on the beach, such as in Scheveningen and Katwijk . He is also familiar with a number of genre pieces and interiors under moonlight. Around 1839 he also started painting harbors and river views under moonlight and dark city views, including from his birthplace Bruges.

His genre pieces sometimes have a social touch, such as the painting "Animated interior". [3] In this painting, a wealthy lady visits a poor woman with two children. This painting continues the tradition of 17th-century Dutch paintings of interiors with maids and kitchen utensils.

He was also a portrait painter. His portrait of General François-Xavier de Wautier hangs in the Royal Army Museum in Brussels. [4] A private Bruges collection includes the painting of members of the Civil Guard who participated in the Belgian Revolution of 1830.

The painting is in overall very good condition but does have craquelure throughout the painting and especially in the sky. This is not too distracting, and is typical for a painting that is 167 years old. The gilt frame has had a few repairs in the past, but looks great. The painting measures 22.5” x 32.5” (sight area) and the overall framed image measures approximately 33.5” x 44”. The painting is accompanied by a letter from Sotheby’s from 1993 valuing the painting at $5,000-$7,000.

This item comes with FREE Shipping in the Continental US. Any other areas would incur additional shipping costs, please contact me via message for additional cost. Please see full Shipping Terms and Conditions.