Backhuysen’s favourite subjects were wrecks and stormy seas, which he
frequently sketched from nature in an open boat, at the great peril of
himself and the boatmen. He made many constructive drawings of ships for
the Czar Peter the Great, who took lessons of the painter, and
frequently visited his painting-room. Among his other avocations,
Backhuysen also gave lessons in writing, in which he introduced a new
and approved method. He was a man of cheerful eccentricity. Within a few
days of his death, he ordered a number of bottles of choice wine, on
each of which he set his seal. A certain number of his friends were then
invited to his funeral, to each of whom he bequeathed a gold coin,
requesting them to spend it merrily, and to drink the wine with as much
cordiality as he had in consigning it to them.