Provenance

Edmund Higginson

Barneby, Edmund

1802 - 1871

Explore selected works

Amid the white crests of gray, churning waves, two masted ships tip wildly near a rocky outcropping beneath slate-gray and lavender-purple clouds in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes a quarter of the way up the painting, and the ships are outlined against the clouds, which sweep across the sky from the lower right to the upper left corner. A patch of topaz-blue sky shines through at the top center of the painting. The long side of the three-masted ship to our left faces us and flags, possibly white with red stripes, fly from two of its masts. The ship at the center of the painting is angled toward us and a single white flag with a red cross flies from one of its two masts. Tiny in scale, people are gathered on the decks and climb the rigging alongside the masts. On the boat at the center, one person hovers overboard, perhaps holding onto a rope or shown falling to the sea. Foamy waves lap at the tall, jagged rock formations to our right, which jut out of the ocean like teeth. The largest boulder, near the right edge of the painting, is painted with tones of golden tan and silvery gray, suggesting it catches sunlight. The lower rocks, closer to us, are in shadow and painted coffee brown and iron gray. Upon closer inspection, two people climb onto the jagged rock closest to us. More scrutiny reveals several people in a rowboat and two men in the water around the rocks. A few birds, minuscule against the waves, fly over the rocks.
Willem van de Velde the Younger, Ships in a Gale, 1660, oil on panel, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2000.72.1

Ships in a Gale

Willem van de Velde the Younger · 1660 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2000.72.1

An elegantly dressed man and woman ride horses toward us and to our right in a landscape with low, rolling hills, stone buildings, and trees in this horizontal painting. The two horses and riders take up the right half of the composition. Both people have pale skin and look at us. The woman has a high forehead, a straight nose, a round face, and curly blond hair falling to her shoulders. She wears a sapphire-blue dress with slashed sleeves to reveal a white garment beneath. Her hat is adorned with blue and white feathers, and she wears a string of pearls around her neck. The legs of her white horse darken to black below the knees, and the bridle is tied with blue bows near the horse’s ears. The sidesaddle sits on a woven, rug-like blanket. Next to her, to our right, the man rides a larger chestnut-brown horse with a white triangle between its eyes. The man looks at us out of the corners of his dark eyes under gathered brows. He has a long, straight nose and is cleanshaven, though a hint of a five o’clock shadow slightly darkens his cleft chin. His light brown hair falls in curls down past his shoulders, and he wears a dark brown coat with voluminous white fabric rippling out above tan-colored gloves. He holds a riding crop in his right hand, on our left, resting against his hip. Near the white horse’s feet, to our left, a dark brown dog with a white nose sniffs at a plant. Behind it, another reddish-brown dog sniffs the ground near the horse’s back hoof. A third dog stands beyond, partially obscured by bushes and plants growing in the lower left corner of the canvas. A man wearing a tall black, wide-brimmed hat and carrying a long staff leads two slender dogs resembling grayhounds on leashes along the path, a little behind the riders. Two more elegantly dressed men ride horses toward us father back on the path. Sand-colored stone buildings, hazy in the distance, are clustered around a squared tower, possibly a bell tower, to our left. The land dips gently to the horizon line in the deep distance. The riders are silhouetted against a swirling slate-blue cloud that fills most of the sky in the top two-thirds of the painting. The sky clears to pale blue to our left and then warms to golden yellow along the horizon, beyond the buildings. The artist signed the painting near the lower left corner: “A. Cuijp.”
Aelbert Cuyp, Lady and Gentleman on Horseback, c. 1655, reworked 1660/1665, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.15

Lady and Gentleman on Horseback

Aelbert Cuyp · c. 1655, reworked 1660/1665 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.15

Two men sit playing cards at a narrow table as three more look on and others urinate, sleep, or gather near the entrance of a tavern in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale, peachy skin and wear jackets, pants, and hats in shades of fawn brown, muted marine blue, parchment white, and charcoal gray. The card players take up the bottom left quadrant of the composition. The player to our left holds his cards out so we can see them as he lifts a tall tankard. He sits on a wooden chair with a vivid red cap hanging from one rail on the back. The player across from him sits on a wooden box and has an iron key hanging from the hip we see. He shows his cards to a third man, directly across from us, who sits and leans forward nearly nose-to-nose, smiling broadly with lips parted. That third man wears an orchid-purple hat and earthy brown and blue clothing. He holds a long-stemmed white clay pipe in one hand and the handle of another tall tankard with the other. Two men, both with clay pipes, stand on the far side of the table to watch the action, and another stands facing away from us near the wall to the left, presumably urinating into a pot there. A knee-high jug with a pewter cap sits near the first player and a piece of chalk and a picture of an owl flanked by spectacles and a candle hang on the light brown wall overhead. This room opens onto a larger room beyond, where one man lies belly down on a bench with his face buried in his crossed arms. Another man sits on a bench to the right, and four men gather near the door on the far wall. A woman stands in the partially open door and looks at one of the men. Dishes and vessels line a high shelf to the left of the door, and a fire burns in a high-mantled fireplace to our right. In the lower right corner and again close to us, a barrel, clay dish, white cloth, chopped firewood, and a sleeping dog are near a wooden beam that parallels the edge of the painting. The artist signed the lower right corner, “D. TENIERS FEC,” and, on the picture of the owl are the letters “AA” and the date, 1658.
David Teniers the Younger, Tavern Scene, 1658, oil on panel, Gift of Robert H. and Clarice Smith, 1975.77.1

Tavern Scene

David Teniers the Younger · 1658 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1975.77.1