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Jacobus Schoemaker Dover (1792-1867)
Lieutenant Jan van Speyk pausing in thought before detonating the powder keg in the boat under his command to keep it from falling to the Belgians, February 5, 1831. Painted in 1834 for A. van der Hoop after eyewitness accounts by survivors. Canvas, 89 × 75 cm.

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. c 221. On loan from the city of Amsterdam, to which it was bequeathed with the rest of the collection of A. van der Hoop.

The highpoint of the Ten Days Campaign was painted at least three times for Adriaan van der Hoop. Schoemaker Doyer made a companion painting of the following moment, with the hero kneeling to fire the fateful shot, and Schouman painted the explosion itself, as seen from a slight distance. All three paintings are now in the Rijksmuseum, on loan from the city of Amsterdam.

This canvas was exhibited in 1834 under the title 'Van Speyk having made all the preparations for igniting the powder, stands introspectively as two crewmen desert him.' See the text.

Exhib. cat. Het vaderlandsch gevoel, nr.65.