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Notes
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In this work, by Pieter Mulier the Elder, the most arresting element is the rock formation, on the left, which emphatically counterbalances the vessel sailing past it on the right. The rock is dramatically split down its middle and towers vertiginously above the surface of the sea. Illuminated by sunlight which streams in from the left, it is splashed roughly by waves running diagonally across the picture surface. The clouds echo this diagonal motion of the waves as they are propelled by a stiff breeze from left to right. Land is glimpsed in the background on the left as a pale grey band. This is painted in almost the exact same colour as the sky. By contrast, the sea is composed of broad brushstrokes, thick brown stripes and areas where the paint has been visibly scraped in order to create a solid, opaque texture.
The painting is essentially a study in silvery-grey, save for the brown of the boat and a rosy tint to the sky. Mulier’s employment of a startlingly limited colour range manifests his affinity with ‘tonal’ painters such as Jan van Goyen and Jan Porcellis. The colour palette and the relatively unrefined sky, dominated by clouds, suggest that the painting is an early work by the artist and probably executed in the mid-1630s.
Title
Shipping in a Breeze off a Rock
Date
1630s
Medium
oil on panel
Measurements
H 39.5 x W 53.5 cm
Accession number
BHC0822
Work type
Painting
National Maritime Museum
Romney Road, Greenwich, London, Greater London SE10 9NF England
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