'Art for the Nation' Vaitepiha Bay, Tahiti, by William Hodges (tactile)
By:
Sign Up Now!
Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into UK education collection to access this title.
Learn about membership options,
or view our freely available titles.
- Synopsis
- Date: 1678. Materials: oil on canvas. Size: 1498 x 2997 mm. Van de Velde Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611-93) and his son Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707) are recognized as the most accomplished and successful of all marine painters. Van de Velde the Younger was greatly admired by both Turner and Constable and inspired future generations of marine artists in England. The Van de Veldes worked as a team both in Holland and from 1672-73 in England, where they were employed by Charles II to paint sea battles. He granted them this very room, here in the Queens House, as their studio and they worked here for about 20 years. The Elder was an excellent draughtsman who sailed with the fleet and made many on-the-spot drawings. The Younger used these drawings for his paintings. Their work was in such demand at the time they often used many assistants, so its quality does vary considerably. Cornelius Tromp Despite the van de Veldes being Dutch, they concentrated on depicting marine battles from the English side while enjoying the patronage of Charles II. However, this work was painted for Cornelis Tromp, the Dutch Lieutenant-Admiral who led a squadron of ships in the battle. It was painted in 1686 while van de Velde the Younger was making a visit to Amsterdam and for that reason is one of relatively few paintings of that date which is largely if not entirely by his own hand. The Painting Van de Velde painted many pictures of the Battle of Texel, but this is the largest and regarded as the most important. The battle was the last of the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-74), in which the English and French joined together in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the Dutch fleet to allow for an invasion of Holland from the sea. The painting depicts the Dutch victory, with Cornelis Tromps 80-gun flagship, the Gouden Leeuw (Golden Lion), in the centre and dominating the work. In full sail and flying 2 large Dutch flags from the topmast and stern, the Gouden Leeuw fires from both port and starboard at the British and French. On her starboard side, the guns are aimed at the 96-gun English ship, the Charles, which is shown slightly in the distance on the right of the painting. The Charles has its topmast shot away with the red flag falling towards the sea. In the bottom right of the painting another English ship is sinking with wreckage strewn in the sea. Other Dutch, English and French ships can be seen in the distance with clouds of white and black smoke billowing from the sides of the ships and filling the sky. The sea is relatively calm with the surface broken by small waves. The painting is very dark and gloomy which is broken only by the white sails of the Gouden Leeuw which appear to be lit up by sunlight, although the sky is completely clouded over. Tactile image details The image has a line border to define the edge of the painting. It concentrates on the Gouden Leeuw, The Charles, the sinking English ship and two other ships only. It also shows the smoke billowing out from the ships into the sky. The Gouden Leeuw (labelled GL) is shown as solid texture with lines for the 2 large flags which are flying on the stern (labelled S) and from the main mast (labelled M). The Charles (labelled C), the sinking English ship (labelled E) and the two other ships (both labelled O) are all shown as solid texture. The white smoke, which is adjacent to the ships at the waterline, is shown as a hollow surrounded by a thin line. The black smoke is shown as two textures, the dense darker smoke as a rough texture and the thinner lighter smoke as a very rough texture. The waves in the sea are shown as lines with a slightly thicker line for the horizon.
- Copyright:
- 2011
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Excellent
- Publisher:
- RNIB
- Date of Addition:
- 04/12/17
- Copyrighted By:
- RNIB
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Art and Architecture
- Submitted By:
- Sarah Bennett
- Proofread By:
- N/A
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.