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Notes
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Bold, theatrical and highly emotive, this painting’s focus is the ship, rolling in the violent waves off a steep, rocky coast. Visible on the stern is the coat of arms of the city of Amsterdam, identified by three silver crosses known as the ‘triple-X’ motif, and two golden lions on either side of the shield. This emblem suggests that the ship may be called the ‘Amsterdam’. On the left, another ship, whose stern is decorated with an image of the Virgin Mary, founders beneath the surface. It may exemplify the potential fate awaiting the Amsterdam. The sky, rendered in alternating strips of lucid white and dark blue, is dominated by a mass of murky clouds moving into the composition from the right. Accompanying the clouds are flashes of jagged red lightning, which not only threaten the flailing Amsterdam but menacingly illuminate the outline of another ship in distress with a diabolic glow.
Title
The Wreck of the 'Amsterdam'
Date
c.1630
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 125.7 x W 177.8 cm
Accession number
BHC0724
Work type
Painting
