John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
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Keywords
OP.609
Harbor View
Alternate titles: Boats on the Maas; Boats on the Maas, Holland; On the River Maas, Holland
ca. 1881
Oil on canvas
14 1/2 x 16 1/2 in. (36.8 x 41.9 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Private collection
Exhibitions
1882–I Boston Art Club probably
Boston Art Club, Twenty-Fifth Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings, February 11–March 11, 1882, no. 105, as Boats on the Maas, Holland.
1883 American Art Union probably
American Art Union, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, New York, First Special Exhibition, opened June 2, 1883, no. 374, as On the River Maas, Holland.
1883 Southern Exposition, Louisville probably
Southern Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky, August 1–November 10, 1883, no. 377, as On the River Maas, Holland.
1884 Massachusetts Mechanic Association probably
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Boston, Fifteenth Exhibition, September–October 1884, no. 35, Room 1, Oil Paintings, as On the River Maas, Holland.
1886 J. Eastman Chase's Gallery
J. Eastman Chase's Gallery, Boston, Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, January 19–30, 1886, no. 2, as Boats on the Maas, probably (or no. 6).
1889–I Fifth Avenue Art Galleries probably
Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Paintings in Oil and Pastel by J. Alden Weir and J. H. Twachtman, February 1–7, 1889, no. 56, as Boats on the Maas, 13 x 15 in.
1996 Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Painters of Cape Ann, 1840–1940: One Hundred Years in Gloucester and Rockport, April 13–June 22, 1996, as Harbor View.
Literature
Studio 1889 probably
"Paintings and Pastels by J. H. Twachtman and J. Alden Weir." Studio 4 (February 1889), p. 43, as Boats on the Maas.
Sun 1889–II probably
"Weir and Twachtman Pictures." Sun (New York), February 8, 1889, p. 3, as Boats on the Maas.
Hale 1957
Hale, John Douglass. "Life and Creative Development of John H. Twachtman." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1957. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1958, probably vol 2, p. 433 (catalogue G, no. 69), as Boats on the Maas. (Hale concordance).
Commentary

Close in subject and style to Dordrecht (OP.610), which is dated 1881, this painting was probably the work titled Boats on the Maas (13 x 15 inches), included in the exhibition and sale of the work of Twachtman and Julian Alden Weir, held February 7, 1889 at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries. The work is also similar to the etching, Boats on the Maas (E.703), although the boats and their arrangement are different in the two images. In fact, Boats on the Maas may have been a generic title used by Twachtman for scenes of the southern Dutch river that he rendered on his 1881 honeymoon. Nonetheless, this painting could have been the work with this title exhibited in 1882 at the Boston Art Club as well as with the same title in the artist's 1886 solo exhibition at J. Eastman Chase's Gallery, Boston.

In an article in the Studio, covering the 1889 sale, Boats on the Maas was among three works mentioned by a critic, who noted Twachtman's “happy faculty in the treatment of water.” The critic wrote that the works were “all delightful in tone" and commented that "the relations between the sky, the shore with its shipping, and the water were perfectly felt.” From the sale, according to the New York Sun, Boats on the Maas sold for $85.