Man of War in Distress off Rocky Coast

Location

Country: Netherlands
City: The Hague
Place: British Embassy

A Man-o-War lists to one side as it travels through rough seas. Several drawings by Willem van de Velde the younger, held at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, have similar themes. Van de Velde focused on the subject of ships in distress, or being wrecked, in the years around 1700.

Willem van de Velde II, marine painter, was the son of Dutch marine painter Willem van de Velde I. He was born in Leyden and studied first under his father and then under another marine painter, Simon de Vlieger. He began hid career in the early 1650s, when living in Amsterdam and his best works date from his Dutch period. By 1672 he had settled in England and in 1674 both he and his father were in the service of Charles II. There are many examples of the work of both father and son at the National Maritime Museum and in other public collections in the UK and they cannot always be distinguished. Although neither father nor son learned the English language, their influence on English maritime painting lasted until the time of Turner.

Places

Subjects

seascape/coastal scene, sunlight, wind, storm, stone/rock, wave, flag, shipwreck, ship, Man o'War

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Willem van de, II Velde (1633 - 1707)

Title

Man of War in Distress off Rocky Coast

Date

c.1700

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 31.00 cm, width: 46.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Sir Bruce Ingram, 1963

GAC number

1447