Mauritz F. H. de Haas (1832-1895)

Born in Rotterdam, Holland, Mauritz de Haas immigrated to the United States in 1859. He had trained extensively in the arts prior to his arrival in New York, studying portraiture and figure painting under Spoel, traditional subjects at the Rotterdam Academy, and finally landscapes and seascapes under Roseboom and Louis Meyer of Hague. From his teachers he acquired an interest in capturing coastal scenery, and under their guidance, he depicted the Dutch coast in oils and the British Channel in watercolors. Mauritz exhibited the resulting works at a variety of European venues with great success; in 1856 the Queen of Holland acquired one of his works and showed her admiration by gifting the artist a souvenir. The following year he became the commissioned painter for the Dutch Navy and sailed aboard the flagship Eversen. This occupation did not keep him out of the public eye, however, and in 1859 DeHaas exhibited a stunning marine entitled Becalmed at the Hague Academy; the painting would later be purchased by the Academy committee. 

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Mauritz DeHaas’ successful career reached its apex when he encountered an American banker in 1859 who encouraged him to travel to New York. Once in the United States, prominent American collectors were quick to acquire his work and rave over his paintings of dramatic battle scenes and serene moonlit seas. DeHaas became a full member of the National Academy in 1867 and dedicated his studies to the low, Holland-like landscape of Long Island. Newfoundland and New England coastal scenes were also among his repertoire, many resulting from his visits to a studio in Marblehead, Massachusetts.  Upon his death in 1895, DeHaas had over 250 works in this studio in various stages of completion. Many of these were exhibited at Mr. Ortgies’ Fifth Avenue Art Galleries in a memorial exhibition.