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Notes

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Jan van de Cappelle’s sea is flat calm and luminous -- even the few boats that appear to be moving hardly disturb the still reflections. But there’s a sense of drama in the picture, unusual for the artist. Clouds threaten, and a fitful sun breaks through. The barge in the foreground on the right is rowed with some urgency, and a forest of sails and masts crowd together in the middle distance. A puff of smoke from a cannon reminds us that in seventeenth-century Holland ships were for war as well as trade.Van de Cappelle painted indoors, using both his sketches and his imagination to craft his marine views. Here, he has lengthened the masts of the boats and painted clouds far more dark and brooding than the still, shimmering water below. Van de Cappelle has successfully put the drama and atmosphere of the composition first, leaving total realism to others.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A Dutch Yacht firing a Salute as a Barge pulls away, and Many Small Vessels at Anchor

Date

1650

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 85.5 x W 114.5 cm

Accession number

NG965

Acquisition method

Wynn Ellis Bequest, 1876

Work type

Painting

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

View venue

A Dutch Yacht firing a Salute as a Barge pulls away, and Many Small Vessels at Anchor

Jan van de Cappelle (1626–1679)

The National Gallery, London

How you can use this image

Buy a print or image licence

Notes

The National Gallery, London