Storm: Two English Ships being Driven Ashore on to Rocks
Willem van der Velde the younger (Leyden 1633 – London 1707)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1673 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1257 x 889 mm (49 1/2 x 35 in)
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1139760
Caption
This is one of a set of four sea-pieces commissioned from the artist by the Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale as part of their refurbishment of Ham House following their marriage in 1672. The pictures do not hang in frames but are inset over the doors of the Duchess's Bedchamber. The set is composed of contrasting scenes, with two images of ships in stormy seas and two of ships in calmer waters.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Storm: Two English Ships being Driven Ashore on to Rocks by Willem van der Velde the younger (Leyden 1633 – London 1707), signed and dated lower right: W.V.Velde 1673. A storm: two English ships being driven ashore onto rocks. The wind from the left of the picture. A patch of light in the left with storm clouds above to the right. In the centre, starboard bow view, an English two-decker in a very heady sea close to some rocks in the right middle-distance. Her mainmast is standing, including the topmast and topgallantmast, above which is a vane on a short staff. Her main course is furled and the yard lowered aport last; her main topsail is neatly stowed in the top. The fore topmast has carried away some six feet above the cap. Her fore-course is lowered half-way and the sheets are let fly. In the foreground close on the first ship's starboard bow is the fore part of a smaller ship lifting to a sea. Her foremast is standing, but the fore-satay has carried away and the topmast has carried away and the topmast has gone.
Provenance
Set of four overdoor seapieces by Willem van der Velde the Younger commissioned in 1673; in 1677 inventory and thence by descent until acquired in 1948 by HM Government when Sir Lyonel, 4th Bt (1854 – 1952) and Sir Cecil Tollemache, 5th Bt (1886 – 1969) presented Ham House to the National Trust, and entrusted to the care of the Victoria & Albert Museum, until 1990, when returned to the care of the National Trust, and to which ownership was transferred in 2002
Credit line
Ham House, The Dysart Collection (purchased by HM Government in 1948 and transferred to the National Trust in 2002)
Makers and roles
Willem van der Velde the younger (Leyden 1633 – London 1707), artist