Studio of Willem van de Velde, 'Calm: Two Dutch Vessels', probably after 1670
About the work
Overview
The low horizon gives a vast sky – very much how a sailor in a small boat at sea experiences the world. But the men working on the vessels seem unconcerned with the view: these are inshore working craft.
In the centre is a smalschip, a transport vessel carrying a Dutch ensign. Beached on the spit of sand on the right is a weyschuit, a small open boat used for ferrying goods and people to bigger boats further out. The only man not involved in the on board tasks surveys not the view, but the huge warship a little way out, its sails rigged ready for going to sea.
This picture was painted in the studio of Willem van de Velde and was possibly the work of one of his assistants, not the artist himself. It’s also possible that it is a late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century copy.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Calm: Two Dutch Vessels
- Artist
- Studio of Willem van de Velde
- Artist dates
- 1633 - 1707
- Date made
- probably after 1670
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 20.9 × 27.9 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by Lord Farnborough, 1838
- Inventory number
- NG149
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
In an unidentified Dutch sale, probably of the eighteenth century; in the Gerrit Muller sale, Amsterdam, 2 April 1827 (lot 74), bought with lot 75, the companion, by A. Brondgeest for John Smith (3,500 guilders); [Hon. G. J. Vernon] sale, London, 15–16 April 1831 (2nd day, lot 37), bought by Emmerson (£105); Thomas Emmerson sale, London, 15–16 June 1832 (lot 121), 109 gns; in the collection of Brook Greville by 1835; Brook Greville sale, London, 30 April 1836 (lot 76), bought by Seguier for Lord Farnborough (135 gns). Lord Farnborough Bequest, 1838.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
-
1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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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