Jan Gerard Smits, (1823-1910). Romance.

Life and work: The work of the Hague painter Gerard Smits belongs, especially as far as his early period is concerned, to the Romantic school.

As a student of Salomon Verveer, he chose to paint town and village views and of the beach and dunes near Scheveningen and Katwijk. But his work was not limited to the area around his hometown and he regularly traversed the country in search of picturesque cities and landscapes. Views of Zaltbommel, Zwolle, Oudewater, Leeuwarden and cityscapes in Haarlem are the stories of an active and travel-loving artist.

He gave painting lessons to Queen Sophie. Museums: Haags Gemeentemuseum and Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam.