Notes
These pendants by Andreas Schelfhout were made of the Leiden Gunpowder Disaster in 1807. On January 12, 1807, the greatest disaster in the history of the city of Leiden took place in its center. A gunpowder barge, carrying approximately 37 tons of gunpowder, exploded on the Steenschuur—a canal that serves as an extension of the Rapenburg. The massive explosion wiped out an entire residential neighborhood, claimed at least 151 lives, and left the city center in ruins. 216 houses in the immediate area were razed to the ground. In fact, nearly every home in Leiden sustained some form of damage.

The Netherlands was in an uproar. Not only did many “disaster tourists”—a phenomenon that existed even back then—flock to the area, driving up the price of a beer, but people also dug deep into their pockets to contribute to the first-ever national fundraising campaign! The proceeds were substantial, especially for that era, amounting to 1.8 million guilders.

The King (Louis Napoleon) also came to inspect the site—a practice that would become a tradition, much like Queen Beatrix’s later visit to Enschede—and he promised that the neighborhood would be rebuilt in all its former glory.

However, little of that promise was ever realized. For half a century, nothing happened at all; eventually, a museum and a laboratory were built, accompanied by a park.

At the time of the disaster, Schelfhout, who would later become best known for his meticulously painted winter landscapes—was a twenty-year-old artist in the prime of his early development. In this striking early work, Schelfhout captured the catastrophic devastation and the explosion of the vessel.

Along with works by his contemporaries, Schelfhout’s portrayal serves as one of the most significant visual accounts of this historic event in Leiden.

Andreas Schelfhout was the most important and successful landscape painter of the Dutch Romantic period (c. 1800-1850). He created a large oeuvre and played an important role in the cultural life of his time.

Schelfhout started as a house painter in the framing business of his father. He already started painting pictures in his spare time.

After a well-received first exhibition in The Hague, his father sent him to receive proper training to Joannes Breckenheimer (1772–1856), a stage designer, in The Hague. He learned not only the technical aspects of painting, but also made detailed studies of the 17th-century Dutch landscape artists Meindert Hobbema and Jacob van Ruisdael.

In 1815, Schelfhout started his own workshop and became a member of the Pulchri Studio. Through his technical excellence and sense of composition and his use of naturalistic colours, he soon became famous also outside The Hague. In 1819 he was awarded the Gold Medal at the exhibition in Antwerp. In 1818 he became a member of the Royal Academy for Visual Arts of Amsterdam. His reputation continued to grow and in 1822 he was given the rank of Fourth Class Correspondent of the Royal Dutch Institute. From then on, one exhibition followed after another. His famous pupil was Johan B. Jongkind.

Initially Schelfhout painted mainly summer scenes, beach scenes, and animal paintings. But as his initial winter scenes even had more success, he began to include them in his exhibitions. He was mainly a studio artist, relying on his sketches done en plein air.

Museums that exhibit artwork(s) by Andreas Schelfhout:

National Gallery (London), Wallace Collection (London), Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), KMSK Antwerpen, Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Dordrechts Museum, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Groeningemuseum (Brugge), Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo), Royal Museum of Fine Arts (Brussels), Museum Jan Cunen (Oss), Museum voor Schone Kunsten (Gent), Teylers Museum (Haarlem), Tyne and Wear Museum (Newcastle upon Tyne), Villa Vauban (Luxembourg).