(1778 - 1851)
Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek, marine painter, was born in Veere, in the Netherlands. He was a self taught artist and first worked in a wallpaper factory in the city of Middleburg, exhibiting work in Haarlem in 1825. From 1826 to 1833 he lived in Durgerdam, near Amsterdam, exhibiting in Amsterdam and The Hague. In 1833, he moved to Amsterdam and became a member of the Royal Academy. Koekkoek was the first of a dynasty of painters: his sons Hermanus and Johannes became marine painters, two other sons, Barend and Martinus Adrianus, were landscape painters, and two grandsons, J. H. B. Koekkoek and Hermanus Koekkoek Junior, were also marine painters. However, Johannes himself is considered the most skilled painter of the family.
