The Whale-oil Refinery near the Village of Smerenburg (detail), showing the flensing of a whale.

Featured on PDR in the essay The Myth of Blubber Town, an Arctic Metropolis

Though the 17th-century whaling station of Smeerenburg was in reality, at its height, just a few dwellings and structures for processing blubber, over the decades and centuries a more extravagant picture took hold — that there once had stood, defying its far-flung Arctic location, a bustling urban centre complete with bakeries, churches, gambling dens, and brothels. Matthew H. Birkhold explores the legend.

Other works by the artist in the archive…

The Whale-Oil Refinery near the Village of Smerenburg (Detail)

Artist

Date

1639


Underlying Rights

Public Domain Worldwide

Digital Rights

No Additional Rights


Image Size

800 x 733 Higher res available?

 Download Image