Cornelis Verbeeck

Verbeecq, Cornelis
Verbeeck, Cornelius

Dutch, 1590/1591 - 1637

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Two large wooden warships firing on each other on a choppy sea almost fill the width of this long horizontal painting. The water closest to us is ocean blue and becomes tan with crests of parchment white in the distance. The tall sides of the warships are pierced with rows of black cannons poking through portholes. Each ship has three tall masts with flax-colored sails billowing in the wind. Tiny men dressed in gold, red, and blue line the decks firing rifles, climbing rigging, or watching the action. The ship to our left is angled toward us, the long arm of the bowsprit on its bow extending to our left. A pink flag bearing a gold and blue crest flies from its tallest mast. A green flag flies from its rear mast and a smaller gold one from the prow. Bright flashes of yellow and rose-pink erupt from two of its cannons, and the stern is wrapped in tawny-brown and light blue smoke. Close to that warship, we look onto the long side of the second warship, to our right. A flag with bands of red, white, and blue flies from its tallest mast and a smaller one with orange and gold stripes flutters from its rear mast. A third red flag flies from the stern. Armored men stand in its prow, firing rifles at a sinking ship directly in front of us. This smaller ship is almost completely submerged with just part of its sail and keel above the choppy surface of the water. Tiny people jump in the water or remain in place while shrapnel from its blasted wooden mast flies out in every direction. One man kneels on the sinking deck with his hands together, facing the attacking crew. In the distance to the left of the left-hand warship, two smaller ships also seem locked in battle. The larger of that distant pair chases the smaller, whose masts collapse with smoke rising from its deck. A sixth ship, tiny in scale, sails near the horizon near the right edge of the composition. Camel-brown clouds floating against a parchment-colored sky in the top two-thirds of the painting. The artist signed the painting as if his name were written on the flag with the red, white, and blue bands: “CORNELIS VB,” with the V and B joined to create a monogram.
Cornelis Verbeeck, A Naval Encounter between Dutch and Spanish Warships, c. 1618/1620, oil on panel, Gift of Dorothea V. Hammond, 1995.21.1-2

A Naval Encounter between Dutch and Spanish Warships

Cornelis Verbeeck · c. 1618/1620 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1995.21.1-2

Bibliography

1628

  • Ampzing, Samuel. Beschrijvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem in Holland. Haarlem, 1628: 372.

1648

  • Schrevelius, Theodorus. Harlemias, ofte, De eerst stichtinghe der stad Haarlem. Reprinted in 1754. Haarlem, 1648: 445.

1753

  • Houbraken, Arnold. De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen. 3 vols. in 1. The Hague, 1753 (Reprint: Amsterdam, 1976): 2:123.

1870

  • Willigen, Adriaan van der. Les Artistes de Harlem: Notices historiques avec un précis sur la Gilde de St. Luc. Revised and enlarged ed. Haarlem and The Hague, 1870: 20.

1895

  • Rooses, Max. "Een veiling van schilderijen in 1616." Oud Holland 13 (1895): 178.

1907

  • Ref Number: XXXIV.224 (born Ha
    T.-B.XXXIV.224 (born Haarlem 1590 - died Haarlem 1631/1635)

1973

  • Bol, Laurens J. Die holländische Marinemalerei des 17. Jahrhunderts. Braunschweig, 1973: 45-48.

1974

  • Preston, Colonel Rupert. Seventeenth-Century Marine Painters of the Netherlands. Leigh-on-Sea, 1974: 15.

1979

  • Dutch and Flemish 16th and 17th Century Paintings from the Shipley Collection. Exh cat. 6 venues, organized by Alan Jacobs Gallery, London, 1979-1980. London, 1979 (cat. compiled by Christopher Wright).

1980

  • Miedema, Hessel. De Archiefbescheiden van het St. Lukasgilde te Haarlem: 1497-1798. 2 vols. Alphen aan den Rijn, 1980: 2:419.

1990

  • Keyes, George S. Mirror of Empire: Dutch Marine Art of the Seventeenth Century. Exh. cat. Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990-1991. Cambridge, England, 1990: 422.