1700
oil
canvas
From the collection of Kunsthaus Zürich
Schiffe auf stürmischer See is a 1700 oil by Willem van de Velde the elder, a Rococo painting work, held at Kunsthaus Zürich.
This painting shows a dramatic seascape with rough, dark waves and a few ships in the distance. The sky is cloudy and gray, with a large cloud dominating the left side of the image. The overall mood is one of turmoil and energy. In the foreground, the waves are depicted in thick, heavy brushstrokes, giving a sense of texture and movement. The ships are small and distant, but they add a sense of scale and context to the scene. The cloud in the sky is particularly striking, with its dark, billowy shape looming over the waves. The painting is a great example of the marine genre, and it's worth looking up more works by the artist, Willem van de Velde the elder.
Willem van de Velde the Elder (1610/11 – 13 December 1693) was a Dutch Golden Age seascape painter, who produced many precise drawings of ships and ink paintings of fleets, but later learned to use oil paints like his son.
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