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A River Scene with Dutch Vessels Becalmed

Photo credit: The National Gallery, London

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Although the many craft in this picture are humble inshore vessels, Jan van de Cappelle’s vision turns their sweeping curves and luminous reflections into a majestic panorama. The sky takes up almost two thirds of the picture, but the soft, grey, formless clouds do nothing to detract from the forest of sails painted in browns, ochre and sudden touches of white that the sun catches and turns pale gold. To the right and close to us is a small flat-bottom vessel carrying turf or peat. The strange looking contraption beneath the flag appears to be a rudder, possibly tacked together by the men whose washing hangs out on a boom over the water. Although one of the leading seventeenth-century Dutch marine painters, van de Cappelle was also a successful merchant.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A River Scene with Dutch Vessels Becalmed

Date

about 1650

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 112 x W 153.5 cm

Accession number

NG4456

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Lord Revelstoke, 1929

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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