Dutch, 1832 - 1895
Mauritz F. H. de Haas was only eight years old when his parents hired Jacob Spoel to instruct him in art; at fifteen he was taking the evening antique class at the Rotterdam Academy of Art while attending school during the day. His older brother William studied landscape painting with Nicolaas J. Roosenboom in the Hague. Whether Mauritz was also a formal student of Roosenboom or only benefited from his occasional advice and criticism is not clear.
It was de Haas's habit to go sketching along the nearby seacoast and go out with the Dutch pilot boats cruising in the English Channel, experiences that initiated his lifelong dedication to marine painting. In 1851 he went to London, apparently to study and develop his skill in watercolor painting. His work impressed the dealers Ackerman and Company, and through that firm he sold some of his watercolors, received commissions for illustration work, and acquired at least one pupil in watercolor painting. The departure of another brother, a naval architect, for India a year later necessitated his return to his family in Rotterdam.
Given a letter of introduction from Roosenboom, de Haas then secured a place in the studio of a distinguished marine painter, Louis Meyer, in the Hague. During the five years spent with Meyer, de Haas began exhibiting widely in Europe and selling his works. In 1856 he received a favorable notice and expression of her esteem (said to be a gold watch) from Holland's queen, which led, the following year, to de Haas being commissioned as official artist of the Dutch Royal Navy.
Despite this promise of a successful career in his native country, de Haas was quick to act upon the advice of the American minister to the Hague, August Belmont, and immigrate to America. His brother William had gone to New York in 1854, which must have helped Mauritz make this decision. It is reported that the first thing he did on arriving in New York in October 1859 was to see Frederic E. Church's Niagara (1857, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.); this afforded him a very favorable initial impression of the attainment of American artists. He set up his studio immediately; not surprisingly, Belmont purchased his first picture completed in America.
From 1864 onward de Haas maintained a studio in the Tenth Street Studio Building. The "De Haas" who exhibited Landscape in the Academy annual exhibition of 1855 was almost surely William. However, Mauritz de Haas's marine paintings were included in every Academy annual exhibition from 1860 until his death. Among the earliest members of the American Society of Painters in Water Color, he exhibited regularly with that organization, starting with its first annual exhibition in 1867.
De Haas served on the Council for the year 1882-83. The Academy's memorial to him, entered into minutes of the annual meeting on May 13, 1896, followed the customary biographical sketch with this apt and succinct summation of his attainment: "Mr. de Haas may be considered at the head of our marine painters."
It was de Haas's habit to go sketching along the nearby seacoast and go out with the Dutch pilot boats cruising in the English Channel, experiences that initiated his lifelong dedication to marine painting. In 1851 he went to London, apparently to study and develop his skill in watercolor painting. His work impressed the dealers Ackerman and Company, and through that firm he sold some of his watercolors, received commissions for illustration work, and acquired at least one pupil in watercolor painting. The departure of another brother, a naval architect, for India a year later necessitated his return to his family in Rotterdam.
Given a letter of introduction from Roosenboom, de Haas then secured a place in the studio of a distinguished marine painter, Louis Meyer, in the Hague. During the five years spent with Meyer, de Haas began exhibiting widely in Europe and selling his works. In 1856 he received a favorable notice and expression of her esteem (said to be a gold watch) from Holland's queen, which led, the following year, to de Haas being commissioned as official artist of the Dutch Royal Navy.
Despite this promise of a successful career in his native country, de Haas was quick to act upon the advice of the American minister to the Hague, August Belmont, and immigrate to America. His brother William had gone to New York in 1854, which must have helped Mauritz make this decision. It is reported that the first thing he did on arriving in New York in October 1859 was to see Frederic E. Church's Niagara (1857, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.); this afforded him a very favorable initial impression of the attainment of American artists. He set up his studio immediately; not surprisingly, Belmont purchased his first picture completed in America.
From 1864 onward de Haas maintained a studio in the Tenth Street Studio Building. The "De Haas" who exhibited Landscape in the Academy annual exhibition of 1855 was almost surely William. However, Mauritz de Haas's marine paintings were included in every Academy annual exhibition from 1860 until his death. Among the earliest members of the American Society of Painters in Water Color, he exhibited regularly with that organization, starting with its first annual exhibition in 1867.
De Haas served on the Council for the year 1882-83. The Academy's memorial to him, entered into minutes of the annual meeting on May 13, 1896, followed the customary biographical sketch with this apt and succinct summation of his attainment: "Mr. de Haas may be considered at the head of our marine painters."
