Aernout Smit
Ships on a stormy sea
The Low Countries were pre-eminently a naval nation that owed its unprecedented prosperity to maritime trade and which brought about an enormous production of seascapes. Aernout Smit, a follower of Backhuysen, is a late exponent of the realistic portrayal of stormy weather; his paintings boast a sense of realism that could make the beholder quiver.