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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Dr. Jan Kelch for confirming the attribution, on the basis of a colour transparency; Dr. Kelch dates the picture to circa 1640.
Arguably the most important Northern maritime painter of the first half of the seventeenth century, De Vlieger decisively influenced the direction of Dutch marine art during the 1630s and 1640s. His late works anticipated the shift from the monochrome or tonal phase of Dutch marine painting to the more classical style of Jan van de Cappelle and Willem van de Velde II, who worked in de Vlieger's Weesp studio (see lot 565). Originally from Rotterdam, de Vlieger moved to Delft in 1634 and then to Amsterdam in 1638. His early work of the 1620s and 1630s shows the strong influence of Jan Porcellis. By the 1640s, he had transformed Porcellis's monochrome palette into the transparent silvery tonality for which he is best known, and of which this work is a fine example. In 1649, he moved to Weesp near the Zuyder Zee.
De Vlieger thus provided a link between the second and third generation of Dutch marine painters. As Dr. Kelch remarked in Praise of Ships and Sea (catalogue of the exhibition, Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, and Gemäldegalerie im Bodemuseum, Berlin, 1996-7, p. 156), 'it is in this atmosphere of mutual stimulation that the Dutch marine acquired its classic character, for it seems likely that Hendrick Dubbels and Jan van de Cappelle, who were familiar with the master's late work, worked in Weesp too...It was however de Vlieger himself who paved the way for the culmination of the development.'
De Vlieger obviously regarded the general composition of the present picture as successful, as he used it for two other paintings. The first, in the National Gallery, London (inv. no. NG 3025), differs primarily in the background boats, as well as the rowing boat in the right foreground, which is replaced by a boier yacht under sail. In addition, the horizon stretches across the full width of the painting, whereas in the present work it is broken in the centre, imbuing the picture with a greater sense of depth. The second, sold in these Rooms, 29 May 1981, lot 38, repeats the gaff-rigged wijdschip in the left foreground, and includes a frigate in the right distance, with its sails furled.
Arguably the most important Northern maritime painter of the first half of the seventeenth century, De Vlieger decisively influenced the direction of Dutch marine art during the 1630s and 1640s. His late works anticipated the shift from the monochrome or tonal phase of Dutch marine painting to the more classical style of Jan van de Cappelle and Willem van de Velde II, who worked in de Vlieger's Weesp studio (see lot 565). Originally from Rotterdam, de Vlieger moved to Delft in 1634 and then to Amsterdam in 1638. His early work of the 1620s and 1630s shows the strong influence of Jan Porcellis. By the 1640s, he had transformed Porcellis's monochrome palette into the transparent silvery tonality for which he is best known, and of which this work is a fine example. In 1649, he moved to Weesp near the Zuyder Zee.
De Vlieger thus provided a link between the second and third generation of Dutch marine painters. As Dr. Kelch remarked in Praise of Ships and Sea (catalogue of the exhibition, Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, and Gemäldegalerie im Bodemuseum, Berlin, 1996-7, p. 156), 'it is in this atmosphere of mutual stimulation that the Dutch marine acquired its classic character, for it seems likely that Hendrick Dubbels and Jan van de Cappelle, who were familiar with the master's late work, worked in Weesp too...It was however de Vlieger himself who paved the way for the culmination of the development.'
De Vlieger obviously regarded the general composition of the present picture as successful, as he used it for two other paintings. The first, in the National Gallery, London (inv. no. NG 3025), differs primarily in the background boats, as well as the rowing boat in the right foreground, which is replaced by a boier yacht under sail. In addition, the horizon stretches across the full width of the painting, whereas in the present work it is broken in the centre, imbuing the picture with a greater sense of depth. The second, sold in these Rooms, 29 May 1981, lot 38, repeats the gaff-rigged wijdschip in the left foreground, and includes a frigate in the right distance, with its sails furled.