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Jacob Maris, 'A Windmill and Houses beside Water: Stormy Sky', probably 1880-90

About the work

This painting is typical of the views of the Dutch countryside that Jacob Maris produced throughout his career. A single windmill provides the only interruption along the flat horizon in a picture that is dominated by a stormy sky – the painting previously had the title La Tourmente (‘Turmoil’ or ‘Turbulence’). This is a good example of Maris’s late work, when he had moved away from the smooth finish of his earlier paintings and had developed a looser sketchier style using thick, often impasto, paint and broad visible brushstrokes.

The stormy sky perhaps provides an explanation for the water below, as we may be looking at floodwater that threatens to engulf the landscape. Although Maris’s choice of a very low horizon follows the example of Dutch painters, such as Jan van Goyen and Jacob van Ruisdael, it also serves here to emphasise the precariousness of the low-lying land, much of which had been reclaimed from the sea.

Key facts

Full title
A Windmill and Houses beside Water: Stormy Sky
Artist
Jacob Maris
Artist dates
1837 - 1899
Date made
probably 1880-90
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
48.3 × 59.5 cm
Inscription summary
Signed
Acquisition credit
Presented by Mrs R.M. Dunlop to the Tate Gallery, 1927; transferred, 1956
Inventory number
NG4269
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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A Drawbridge in a Dutch Town
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A Girl feeding a Bird in a Cage
A Girl feeding a Bird in a Cage
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A Girl seated outside a House
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When this small painting on wood was bequeathed to the National Gallery it had the title Vespers, although it had previously been titled Young Girl with Flowers. The composition is very similar to a picture titled Sunday Afternoon, which Jacob Maris had painted a few years earlier in 1863. That p...
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