[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

van der WILLIGE, E. (19th century, second half)

“Zandschuiten” / “Sand Barges”

circa 1880

oil on board / 6 inches by 9 inches

Van der Willige’s painting came to American in the trunk of Dutch immigrant Maurits Braaksma, one of the original colonists of the agricultural settlement at Grou in the late 1880s. Its origins prior to that date are unknown, except that similar work by an artist of the same name appears on some on-line art auction sites. “Zandschuiten” had been on long-term loan from the family but was given in 1988 to commemorate the Village of Grou centennial.

Flat-bottomed sand barges were used in Dutch flood control projects and were a common sight in the canals and rivers of Friesland.