Clash of the Dutch and British Fleets during the Passage of the Dutch Flotilla to Boulogne (1804)

Martinus Schouman (signed by artist), 1806

Zeeslag tussen Nederlandse, Franse en een Britse schepen in Het Kanaal. Het Nederlands-Franse eskader is links afgebeeld, rechts de aanvallende Britse schepen. Op de achtergrond de duinen met een Franse kustbatterij.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-1394
  • Dimensionssupport: height 95 cm x width 159 cm, depth 5.5 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Clash of the Dutch and British Fleets during the Passage of the Dutch Flotilla to Boulogne (1804)

  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-1394

  • Description

    Zeeslag tussen Nederlandse, Franse en een Britse schepen in Het Kanaal. Het Nederlands-Franse eskader is links afgebeeld, rechts de aanvallende Britse schepen. Op de achtergrond de duinen met een Franse kustbatterij.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    signature and date, lower right: ‘M. Schouman 1806.’

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    • painter: Martinus Schouman (signed by artist), Dordrecht
    • commissioner (person who orders works): Department of the Navy, The Hague

  • Dating

    1806

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on canvas

  • Dimensions

    • support: height 95 cm x width 159 cm
    • depth 5.5 cm

Explanatory note

  • De Bataafse Republiek droeg in de jaren 1803-1805 bij aan de samenstelling van de Franse vloot voor de invasie van Groot-Brittannië. Verschillende eskaders vertrokken vanuit Vlissingen op weg naar de hoofdmacht te Boulogne, wat de Britse marine trachtte te verhinderen.

This work is about

  • Person

  • Subject

  • Place

  • Period

    1804

Acquisition and rights

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    Commissioned by the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague;{J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 173.} transferred to the museum, 1883

Documentation

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Martinus Schouman

Clash of the Dutch and British Fleets during the Passage of the Dutch Flotilla to Boulogne (1804)

Dordrecht, The Hague, 1806

Inscriptions

  • signature and date, lower right:M. Schouman 1806.

Conservation

  • conservator unknown, 1889: canvas relined

Provenance

Commissioned by the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague;1J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 173. transferred to the museum, 1883

Object number: SK-A-1394

Entry

Painting of a naval engagement.

During the War of the Third Coalition (1803-06) the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was determined to invade the British Isles. To achieve this he raised a new Army of England consisting of more than 160,000 men to be placed under his personal command and at the same time ordered a huge fleet to be assembled in the French port of Boulogne to support the colossal undertaking.2N.A.M. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815, New York/London 2004, pp. 529-30.

As an ally of the French, the Dutch Batavian Republic was expected to contribute both ships and men to Napoleon’s invasion fleet and between the years 1803 and 1805 several squadrons of predominantly small vessels – schooners, gunboats and transports – sailed from Flushing to join the main invasion force at Boulogne. A British squadron on permanent patrol in the North Sea predictably tried to prevent this from happening.3J.C.J. de Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche zeewezen, 5 vols. and index, Haarlem 1858-62, vol. 5, pp. 534-85.

Martinus Schouman (1770-1848) painted this work in 1806 in his Dordrecht studio as an commission by the Department of the Navy.4J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 172. Rear Admiral Carel Hendrik VerHuell (1764-1845), who commanded the flotillas to Boulogne, was Secretary of the Navy at the time the painting was commissioned.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 172; J.C.J. de Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche zeewezen, 5 vols. and index, Haarlem 1858-62, vol. 5, pp. 534-85; P.J.J. van Thiel et al., All the Paintings of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: A Completely Illustrated Catalogue, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1976, p. 508; J. Erkelens, ‘Martinus Schouman (1770-1848). Biografie van een Dordtse zeeschilder’, De Negentiende Eeuw 7 (1983), pp. 277-94; A. Lemmers (ed.), Maritime Technology from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam: Multimedia Catalogue of the Dutch Navy Model Collection 1698-1889, coll. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1995; N.A.M. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815, New York/London 2004, pp. 528-44; C.P.P. van Romburgh, ‘1803. VerHuell treft geheime voorbereidingen voor invasie in Engeland’, in R. Daalder (ed.), Maritieme geschiedenis van Nederland in 70 hoogtepunten 1500-2000, Amsterdam 2004, pp. 94-98

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Martinus Schouman, Clash of the Dutch and British Fleets during the Passage of the Dutch Flotilla to Boulogne (1804), Dordrecht, 1806', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20027350

(accessed 1 november 2026 04:59:03 UTC+0).

Footnotes

  • 1J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 173.
  • 2N.A.M. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815, New York/London 2004, pp. 529-30.
  • 3J.C.J. de Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche zeewezen, 5 vols. and index, Haarlem 1858-62, vol. 5, pp. 534-85.
  • 4J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 172.