Dutch Ships in a Lively Breeze

probably 1650s

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Jockeying for position with three other well-armed ships and a small open yacht, a large and heavily armed East Indiaman, carrying the Amsterdam coat of arms on its stern, sails through a crowded shipping lane. Rather than a depiction of a specific moment on the water, the work is likely an imaginary composition conceived in the artist’s studio.

The attribution to an artist from the circle of Jacob Adriaensz Bellevois is based on style and compositional qualities that are characteristic of that Rotterdam marine painter. Bellevois would generally spread his vessels randomly across the picture plane instead of uniting them into an integrated whole. He painted loosely, never softening the details of the ships or of their riggings so they would merge atmospherically into the broader tonal character of the image. All of Bellevois’s mannerisms are evident in the Gallery’s painting, but the overall quality level is below his standards, and the ships’ lack of three-dimensionality is particularly noticeable. Perhaps Bellevois had a workshop, or perhaps the painting’s problems are exacerbated by its poor condition. Too many unknowns exist to be able to establish a firm attribution for this work.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mrs. Robert Giles

  • Dimensions

    overall: 122.5 × 147.8 cm (48 1/4 × 58 3/16 in.)
    framed: 144.78 × 170.18 × 13.97 cm (57 × 67 × 5 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1947.3.1

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: Dutch Ships in a Lively Breeze, probably 1650s

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

Mrs. Robert Giles [1862-1947, née Frederica Rodgers], Washington, D.C.; bequest 1947 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1954

  • Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1954-1960.

1969

  • Inaugural Exhibition: European Paintings, The Art Museum, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 1969-1970, no cat.

1972

  • Extended loan for use by The Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1972-1986.

1986

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Richard Lyng, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1986-1989.

1989

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Samuel Skinner, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., 1989-1992.

1992

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Andrew H. Card, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., 1992-1993.

1993

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Federico Pena, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., 1993-1998.

1998

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Rodney Slater, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., 1998-2001.

Bibliography

1965

  • National Gallery of Art. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1965: 8, as Ships in the Scheldt Estuary by Circle of Hendrik van Anthonissen.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 2, repro., as _Ships in the Scheldt Estuary by Circle of Hendrik van Anthonissen.

1975

  • National Gallery of Art. European paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Washington, 1975: 14-15, repro., as Ships in the Scheldt Estuary by Circle of Hendrik van Anthonissen.

1980

  • Archibald, Edward H.H. Dictionary of Sea Painters. Woodbridge and Suffolk, 1980: 60, repro. 54, as by Hendrick van Anthonissen.

1985

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 31, repro., as Ships in the Scheldt Estuary.

1989

  • Archibald, Edward H.H. Dictionary of Sea Painters. 2nd ed. Woodbridge and Suffolk, 1989: 67, repro. 56, as by Hendrick van Anthonissen.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 19-22, repro. 21.

Wikidata ID

Q20177289

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