Aan het Veere

Aan het Veere is an oil on board painting created by Lodewijk Franciscus Hendrik (Louis) Apol (1850-1936). The painting depicts a winter landscape with dark, snow-carrying clouds. To the left at the back of the painting are two houses with snow-covered roofs. In the centre of the painting, there is a frozen river with a small figure of a man crossing it, who seems to be walking against the wind. To the left of the painting, in the front is another figure with a hat and a small dog. On the extreme left-hand side of the painting, there is a tree without leaves and in the bottom right-hand corner two small trees are depicted. This small painting belonged to Louis Apol when he passed away in 1937. The painting was auctioned off as part of Apol’s estate on 5 May 1937 at Kunsthandel Jack Niekerk Amsterdam, Lot 149. Mr JA van Tilburg purchased the entire estate. On 28 July 1945, Gerard van Twist declared that Van Tilburg bought the estate of Louis Apol. The painting was not in Van Tilburg’s possession in 1947 when A. Mak Veilings made a list of his entire estate in Dordrecht. The painting was, however, in the possession of his daughter Hilda during that period. In 1944 the house of Van Tilburg’s daughter was accidentally bombed by the Allies during the bombing of The Bezuidenhout on 3 March 1945. The painting was damaged during this bombing raid. Scans of the painting revealed that the signature that was originally located at the bottom left side of the painting was scraped off by something and some of the paint was damaged. The painting’s title “Aan het Veer” is a street name in the town Dieren in the Gelderland province of The Netherlands. Today the houses in the painting no longer exist, but the street still does.