Abraham Hulk was to become one of the foremost Dutch Marine Painters of the 19th Century and the patriarch off a family of Anglo Dutch artists.

He was born to a Dutch family in London on 1st May 1813 and studied at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam from 1828, and was subsequently a pupil of the portrait painter Jean Augustus Daiwaille (1786 – 1850). Daiwaille was a considerable influence on his pupil and although known almost exclusively as a painter of marines he also painted a number of portraits in addition to producing lithographs. In 1833 Hulk travelled to North America returning to Holland the following year. Living first in Amsterdam Hulk embarked on a highly sucessful career painting marines and coastal scenes. He proved extraordinarily adept at painting the sea in all its moods; a tranquil calm at sunset, choppy seas in a breeze or sailing vessels on towering seas in a storm. His paintings found a ready market on the Continent and in Britain.

Hulk exhibited extensively in the Hague, Amsterdam and Leeuwarden and moved around Holland until finally settling in London in 1870 where he lived in Camden until his death some twenty odd years later. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1876 to 1890 his typically Dutch scenes. His work is held in numerous museums including Amsterdam and Dordrecht. His marine paintings remain highly prized and there are some fine examples that come to the market from time to time. This is very typical of his work, evening light that is softly diffused and wonderfully observed figures on the shoreline, a real beauty!