Ships in a Gale
Historical Context
Willem van de Velde the Younger was the supreme master of Dutch marine painting and Ships in a Gale, painted in 1660, belongs to a series of storm scenes that established his reputation across Europe. Van de Velde brought to marine painting an accuracy rooted in direct observation — he accompanied the Dutch fleet on voyages, sketching ships under all conditions — combined with a compositional drama that transformed technical documentation into high art. Storm scenes were among the most admired subjects in the genre, combining spectacle with anxiety about the fragility of human commerce and exploration in the face of natural forces. Van de Velde's gale paintings were collected by European monarchs, and he eventually settled permanently in England in 1672, bringing his expertise to the English court and profoundly shaping British marine painting for a century.
Technical Analysis
Van de Velde constructs the storm through dynamic diagonals of wind-stressed rigging and tilting hulls, counterpointing the stability of the heaving sea below. Paint is applied with controlled energy, the white foam of breaking waves rendered in thick impasto while the sky builds through layered glazes. The tonal range is dramatic, moving from grey-green seas to a lurid, cloud-riven sky.
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.
