Ships in a Gale

1660

Willem van de Velde the Younger

Painter, Dutch, 1633 - 1707

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.

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Willem van de Velde the Younger first gained his vast knowledge of the sea and sailing ships by studying under his father, the celebrated marine painter Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611–1693). The junior Van de Velde became skilled at depicting the flow of tides, the rippling of waters against a sandy shore, and raging storms that buffeted huge seafaring vessels and threatened to destroy them. The son’s work also shows a sensitivity to the effects of light and atmosphere, which he learned from his years in the studio of Simon de Vlieger (1600/1601–1653).

Ships in a Gale is one of Van de Velde's early masterpieces. It is filled with the drama of a churning sea on which two storm-tossed ships struggle to avoid jagged rocks that have already claimed a third vessel. The painting is not only compositionally dramatic but also endlessly engaging in its details: figures scramble up masts, haul in the sails, and hang from lines attached to the bowsprit. As birds swoop over the foaming breakers, sailors fight the waves in their desperate attempt to reach the relative safety of the rocks before drowning. The painting is in extraordinary condition and has retained every element of its original character, particularly in the physicality of the ships, figures, and rocks and the translucency of clouds, sky, and water.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Patrons' Permanent Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 72.4 x 108 cm (28 1/2 x 42 1/2 in.)
    framed: 91.1 x 126.1 x 5.7 cm (35 7/8 x 49 5/8 x 2 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    2000.72.1

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: Ships in a Gale, 1660

This horizontal painting shows a group of eight light-skinned musicians and onlookers gathered closely around a rectangular, carpet-covered table. The front edge of the table runs parallel to the bottom edge of the painting, and seems close to us. Shown from about the waist up, the men and women’s vivid lapis-blue, coral-red, buttercup-yellow, lilac-purple, and moss-green garments fall in crisp folds. Bright reflections on the fabric suggest a satin-like material. Two women wear feathers in their hair and one man’s hat is plumed. One man, wearing crimson red and black, sits with his back to us to our left on the near side of the table. He holds the neck of a bass viol, about the size of a cello, with his left hand, and points to pages of an open music book with the bow in his right hand. The other people cluster on the far side of the table. A man to the left plays a violin; a woman at the center plays a guitar-sized bandora, and a woman to our right plays a lute. The musicians, along with a man who leans over the table from between the two women, look down at the music books. A young man behind the woman at the center holds up a glass of pale liquid with his right hand as he touches his left forefinger to his smiling lips. A man and woman stand close together in the background to our right, in the top right corner of the canvas.

Scholarly Series:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Probably Proley (or Proly) collection, Paris;[1] (sale, Hôtel de Bullion by Paillet and Boileau, Paris, 20 March 1787 and days following, possibly no. 114).[2] brought to England 1823 by (Thomas Emmerson, London). Jeremiah Harman [1763-1844], Higham House, Woodford, by 1835;[3] (his estate sale, Christie & Manson, London, 17-18 May 1844, 2nd day, no. 106, as A Storm and Shipwreck); Edmund Higginson [1802-1871], Saltmarshe Castle; (his sale, Christie & Manson, London, 4-6 June 1846, no. 218, as A Storm and Shipwreck); purchased by Brown.[4] Edmund Higginson, Saltmarshe Castle; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 16 June 1860, no. 32, as A Storm and Shipwreck); purchased by Turner.[5] Edward Sholto, 3rd baron Penrhyn [1864-1927], London; (sale, Sotheby's, London, 3 December 1924, no. 79, as Rocky Coast with choppy sea and shipping). possibly with (Hand, London); sold to private collection, United States, possibly Samuel Borchard [d. 1930], New York; his estate; (his estate sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 9 January 1947, no. 38, as A Shipwreck in a Storm off a Rocky Coast);[6] private collection, South America;[7] (Otto Nauman, New York); purchased 16 June 2000 by NGA.
[1] The following provenance is given in the prospectus prepared by Otto Naumann at the time of the sale in 2000, in NGA curatorial files.
[2] This sale included more than twenty works by Van de Velde. See the description of Sale F-A1806 in The Getty Provenance Index Databases.
[3] John Smith, A Complete Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, 9 vols., London, 1829-1842: 6(1835):327-328, no. 26.
[4] A copy of the sale catalogue at the Getty Research Library is annotated "Brown," and a newspaper clipping pasted in the same catalogue reads "Lot 218...bought for 300 guineas by Mr. Brown." (Copies in NGA curatorial files.)
[5] According to a handwritten note in John Smith's sale catalogue, the painting was bought by Turner for 153 pounds, 6 shillings. A copy of the sale catalogue at the Getty Research Library is also annotated with the same information (copy in NGA curatorial files).
[6] Stuart Borchard, Samuel's son, lent the painting to a 1942 exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The 1947 sale of the "Samuel Borchard Collection" was, according to the sale catalogue, "by order of Stuart Borchard." Michael Strang Robinson, Van De Velde: A Catalogue of the Paintings of the Elder and the Younger Willem van de Velde, 2 vols., Greenwich, 1990: 2:1036-1038, no. 391, incorrectly states that the painting was sold by "Stuart Borchard's son" at the 1947 sale.
[7] The dealer's prospectus indicates that the private owner in South America probably acquired the painting at the 1947 sale.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1942

  • Five Centuries of Marine Paintings, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942, no. 35.

2018

  • Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2018, unnumbered brochure.

Bibliography

1829

  • Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829-1842: 6(1835):327-328, no. 26.

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907-1928: 7(1918):possibly 335, no. 427.

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 7(1923):possibly 108, no. 427.

1925

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Loan Exhibition of Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. Exh. cat. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1925: 14, no. 35.

1942

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R., and Francis Waring Robinson. Five Centuries of Marine Painting. Exh. cat. Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942: 14, no. 35.

1990

  • Robinson, Michael Strang. Van de Velde: A Catalogue of the Paintings of the Elder and the Younger Willem van de Velde. 2 vols. Greenwich, 1990: 2:1036-1038, no. 391, repro.

2002

  • Beer, Gerlinde de. Ludolf Backhuysen (1630 - 1708): sein Leben und Werk. Zwolle, 2002: 182, fig. 236.

2020

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Clouds, ice, and Bounty: The Lee and Juliet Folger Collection of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2020: 136, 138, fig. 1.

Inscriptions

lower center on rock: W.V.V. / 1660

Wikidata ID

Q20177547

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