Pieter Bruegel the Elder – my daily art display

Maritime Art. Part 1.

The Sea and the Ships

Storm at Sea by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1569)

Maritime painting is an art genre that depicts ships and the sea. Early examples of this genre were found in Greek vase paintings and the wall paintings of Pompeii. Storm at Sea is one of earliest specific seascapes and was painted around 1569 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s and thought to be one of his last paintings. It is unfinished and, like so many of his works, defies unambiguous interpretation. On the one hand, we see ships threatened by a storm reminding us that man is not master of Nature, in fact man is often its victim. To try and save themselves from the stormy sea the sailors have poured oil onto the water. They have also sacrificed a barrel from their cargo to distract the mighty whale who is attacking their vessel.

The Battle of Terheide (1657), commemorating the Battle of Scheveningen on 10 August 1653 by Willem van de Velde the Elder.

The greatest marine artists of the 17^th century were Willem van de Velde the Elder and his son, Willem van de Velde the Younger. They were best known for their spectacular depictions of storms at sea, and of nautical life, as well as their painstakingly drawn depictions of ships and naval battles. To commemorate the Dutch naval commander Maerten Harpertsz Tromp, his family commissioned a series of pen paintings of Tromp’s best-known battles from Willem van de Velde the Elder. The artist used pen and ink on canvas for these works, which which bear a resemblance to meticulous, accurate engravings. Van de Velde witnessed the Battle of Terheide in 1653 and he used the sketches that he produced on board as studies for this pen painting.

Men O’ War in Action by Willem van de Velde the Elder

Willem van de Velde the Elder was born in Leiden in 1611. He was the son of the captain of a merchant vessel, Willem Willemsz van de Velde. When he was young, he would often accompany his father on sea voyages and this probably shaped his career as a marine artist. Van de Velde married Judith van Leeuwen in Leiden in 1631 and the couple went on to have three children, a daughter, Magdalena, and two sons who would become renowned painters, Willem van de Velde the Younger, a marine artist and Adriaen van de Velde, a landscape painter.

Ships in a Stormy Sea by Willem van de Velde the Younger (c.1672)

The painting entitled Ships in a Stormy Sea by Willem van de Velde the Younger depicts the drama and the excitement of those who braved the seas in the 17th century. Willie van de Velde the Younger had first-hand knowledge of sailing, and his marine paintings were appreciated for their realistic depictions of ships and sailing tactics. In this work the ship in the foreground is a kaag, a light fishing vessel. The artist has depicted it as sailing close-hauled in the strong breeze, which is one of the most difficult sailing manoeuvres, in which the vessel sails into the wind as directly as it can without causing the sails to flap uselessly.

States Yacht and other vessels in a very light air by Willem van de Velde the Younger.

Whereas his father specialised in drawings and pen paintings, Van de Velde the Younger was best known for his oil paintings, which depicted life at sea in full colour. He was born in Amsterdam in 1633 and trained as a painter with the Dutch artist Simon de Vlieger, who was known for his marine paintings, beach scenes, landscapes and genre work. Unlike his father, Willem de Velde the Younger was a trained artist, unlike his father who was self-taught. Van de Velde the Younger worked closely with his father and the pair brought their artistic visions to life. Often, he would use his father’s drawings as a guide to create his own masterpieces. The father was a master of detail whereas his son was a master of light. It was this combination of artistic talents that was to lead to the success of their studio business.

The Home Fleet Saluting the State Barge by Jan van der Capelle (1650)

Shipping in a Calm at Flushing with a States General Yacht Firing a Salute by Jan van de Cappelle (1649)

Jan van de Cappelle was a Dutch Golden Age painter of seascapes and winter landscapes, also notable as an industrialist and art collector. He is now considered the outstanding marine painter of 17th century Holland. Jan van de Cappelle was wealthy and was occupied full-time running his father’s dyeing business. Though he painted some beach scenes and winter landscapes, most of his paintings represent the mouths of wide rivers or quiet inner harbours, where groups of ships at anchor were depicted in glassy calm waters. Many of his marine art works depict full cloud formations which hover over these tranquil waters and are mirrored in colourful reflections, often set in early morning or evening. When he died, aged fifty-three, in 1679, his estate was worth more than 90,000 guilders.

The Ships “Winged Arrow” and “Southern Cross” in Boston Harbour by Fitz Henry Lane (1853)

Fitz Henry Lane was born on December 19, 1804, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Lane and was christened Nathaniel Rogers Lane three months later and would remain known as such until he was twenty-seven. In March 1832, Lane requested that his name be changed to Fitz Henry Lane. The reasons behind Lane’s decision to change his name, and for choosing the name he did, are still very unclear. Lane and his family lived on the outskirts of Gloucester close to the harbour’s working waterfront and so, growing up, Lane had contact with all the elements of maritime life. Lane’s father, Jonathan Lane was a sailmaker and it was thought that his son would follow him into the business or become a seafarer. Unfortunately, when only eighteen months of age he became ill and suffered a form of paralysis of the legs. Growing up he was unable to join his friends in games and became withdrawn and stayed at home where, for amusement, he began to draw. This developed into an amazing talent and living close to the sea and the harbour he began to sketch the ships and the harbour.

Salem Harbor by Fritz Henry Lane (1853)

For fifteen years, Lane was employed at Pendleton’s Lithography shop in Boston and during those years as a lithographer Lane honed his artistic skills. He produced many works of marine art and was listed as a marine painter in the 1840 edition of the Boston Almanac. His works became extremely popular and were in great demand. Then despite living in Boston, it never prevented him returning on a number of occasions to his birthplace, Gloucester. Aged forty-eight Lane left Boston and moved back to Gloucester where in 1849 he designed and had constructed his own granite house with seven gables and a studio on Duncan’s Point. This house would remain his primary residence to the end of his life. Fitz Henry Lane died on August 14th, 1865, aged 60.

Rainbow at Sea with some cruising Ships by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1836)

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, a Dutch painter, was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig on January 2^nd 1783. He was at the forefront of the Golden Age of Danish Painting, a period from 1800 to around 1850 and is often referred to as the “Father of Danish painting”. After 1821 seascapes had become Eckersberg’s favourite subject.

The Russian Ship of the Line “Asow” and a Frigate at Anchor in the Roads of Elsinore by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1828)

Eckersberg’s best loved maritime painting is his 1828 work entitled The Russian Ship of the Line “Asow” and a Frigate at Anchor in the Roads of Elsinore. This majestic work is not a true rendition of the scene but an idealised version as the setting of the scene is not Copenhagen where he had studied Russian ships of the line on two occasions. We also know from his diaries that he had also studied the ship’s design from technical drawings he had borrowed from the naval dockyard. However the backdrop is not Copenhagen but Elsinore where we can see Kronborg Castle in the background. Kronborg is the castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark, which was immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. The depiction is what the ship, Asow, would have looked like if viewed from a vantage point on the Øresund.

The Corvette Galathea in a Storm in the North Sea by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1839)

Although he was known for his portraiture and historical paintings, marine paintings was another genre he developed. Eckersberg developed a passion for ships, and, at the age of fifty-six, sailed around the Skagerrak, the Kattegat, the North Sea, and as far as the English Channel. These sailing trips on the open seas brought home to Eckersberg that sea could be quite threatening and whereas many of his early work focused on cam seas, later works often depicted the ferocity of the sea.

If you would like to read more about the art of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg then have a look at the five blogs I did focusing on his life life and paintings.

Northeaster by Wilmslow Homer (1895)

Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and illustrator and is renowned for his marine subjects. By many, he is considered one of the leading painters of 19th-century America. His 1895 painting entitled Northeaster can be found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City. It depicts a wave crashing aggressively against a rocky Maine shoreline. Homer loved the East coast of America around Maine and eventually settled down there in 1883, moving from New York to Prouts Neck, Maine where he lived at his family’s estate in the remodelled carriage house seventy-five feet from the ocean. The title of the painting, Northeaster, does not refer to a location in America, but is a name given to a specific type of wind that occurs within the western North Atlantic Ocean. The painting depicts just a small section of rock seen in the lower left corner whilst, in the background, a spectacular section of sea is seen riding relentlessly towards the shore.

Early Morning, After A Storm At Sea By Winslow Homer (1900-1903)

Whilst living at Prouts Neck, Winslow Homer looked out upon the sea and once commented to a friend that painting was all about timing:

“…You must not paint everything you see. You must wait, and wait patiently until the exceptional, the wonderful effect or aspect comes. Then, if you have sense enough to see it—well . . . that is all there is to that…”

Homer began this seascape in 1900 and based it on a watercolour he had completed in 1883. He was proud of the finished work in oils stating that it was the best picture of the sea that he had painted but was totally dismayed when it was poorly received by the critics. He just said of this dismissive reception that no one understood the work and besides that, the people never see the early morning effect. They don’t get up early enough.

View of Lac Léman by Gustave Courbet (1874)

Threatening grey clouds move across the sky above the calm Swiss lake but the cloud formation threatens an oncoming storm. The depiction is set in the evening and on the horizon against the vivid orange and gold of the setting sun we can just barely make out a tiny boat. Soft red reflections streak the surface of the water. Courbet had left France in 1873 for political reasons and settled on the shores of Lac Léman in Switzerland where he painted a number of scenes featuring the lake at sunset.

Marine by Gustave Courbet

Four years earlier during the late summer of 1869 Courbet travelled to Étretat, a small fishing village which was famous for its towering coastal cliffs with their rock arches carved out by the relentless sea. Courbet was fascinated by the sea and completed twenty-nine works during his stay at Étretat. His depictions of the sea would vary from the quiet tranquillity of the calm sea to the violence of crashing waves upon the rocks. In the above work Courbet shows us the power of the sea with white-capped waves with foam fringes as they approaches us. The painting has captured the feel of motion and the immense power of the relentless waves.

In Part 2, I will be looking at Marine paintings which feature those who enjoy relaxing by the sea and those whose living is connected with the sea.

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts. Part 1.

I had a short city break in Birmingham the other day when I had intended to visit some of the main art galleries. Unfortunately, the main Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in the centre of the city was closed until late April, for essential electrical works and so I was able to concentrate my cultural journey on a visit to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the centre of the Birmingham University Campus. I had been here once before, five years ago and especially fell in love with two of the paintings. The Barber Institute is a smaller gallery in comparison to the main one in the Birmingham centre and yet it is full of artistic treasures by the most famous artists. In my next three blogs I will introduce you to and tell you about some of the wonderful paintings in their permanent collection, so as to tempt you to visit the museum.

See the source image — *The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, England.*

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is housed in one of Birmingham’s finest Art Deco buildings and was opened in 1939. The architect tasked with designing the building was Robert Atkinson, one of Britain’s leading architects of the 1920s and ’30s. The building is laid out around the central music auditorium, surrounded by corridors. On the Ground floor these form offices and lecture halls for the Departments of Music and History of Art, as well as a dedicated Art History library. The galleries occupy the same space on the first floor, approached by a stunning travertine staircase directly opposite the entrance.

The first painting I want to present to you is one of my all-time favourite landscape works. The 1832 work, entitled Ramsau, is by Thomas Fearnley. Fearnley was born in Norway, but studied abroad, often with his fellow countryman Johan Christian Dahl. It was whilst working alongside Dahl that Fearnley developed the habit of painting directly en plein air. Fearnley was travelling to Italy when he and his party stopped at the village of Ramsau, a small town located on the Königssee in the district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria. In the painting we can see the road winding and disappearing around a corner of the village before we catch a glimpse of it again as it heads off towards their destination, the snow-covered Alps and the beautiful snow-capped Hoher Göll, which straddles the border between the German state of Bavaria and the Austrian city of Salzburg. It is such a beautifully tranquil scene. In the middle ground of the depiction, we see a lone farmer collecting hay. Such hard work was so important so as to have food for his animals during the harsh and bitterly cold winter, which was fast approaching. This en plein air work would have taken Fearnley several sittings during the week-long stay, on each occasion adding another layer of colour.

*The Wrath of Ahasuerus* *by Jan Steen (c.1670)*

I have always loved the works of the Dutch Golden Age painter, Jan Steen, so I was pleased to see one of his works in the Barber Institute’s collection. It was not one of his exuberant genre scenes but a Biblical painting. It was his painting The Wrath of Ahasuerus which he completed around 1670. The characters who appear in the painting come from the Old Testament Book of Esther. The depiction before us is an episode in the life of the Persian king Ahasuerus and his Jewish wife Esther. King Ahasuerus had sought a new wife after his queen, Vashti, had refused to obey him, and Esther, the adopted daughter of the Jew Mordecai, was chosen for her beauty. The subject of the painting is from Esther vii, 1-7. Haman, the king’s First Minister had issued a decree that all the Jews in Persia should be killed. Esther, the wife of the king, held a banquet and at it she confessed that she was a Jew, and that she too was threatened by Haman. So we see in the painting, on hearing what his wife had to say about Haman, her husband jumps up in a violent reaction to what he has just heard. Ahaseurus explosive and exaggerated gesture, eyes bulging, red in the face, fists clenched, jumps up knocking over a vase and the peacock pie. Haman, on the left, cowers away from the king’s fury. The peacock is a symbol of pride and is a reference to Haman’s fallen pride and his downfall. The king ordered Haman to be hung. This story of Esther’s triumph over the evil Haman was popular with the Dutch people who could see the similarity between her battle and their plight against the mighty, and in their eyes, the evil Spanish invaders and occupiers of their country, being a similar story.

Symphony in White, No. III — *Symphony in White No. III by James McNeill Whistler (c.1867)*

James McNeill Whistler completed Symphony in White No. 3 in 1867 and it is now part of the Barber Institute collection. It was thought to have been originally entitled Two Little White Girls. Two women are depicted in the painting. One, sitting on a sofa, is Joanna Heffernan, Whistler’s mistress. The other, resting on the floor in the cream/yellow dress, is Millie Jones, the wife of an actor friend. Laying on the floor is an Oriental fan which is a reminder of the popular Japonisme cult of the time. Japonisme was a French term that referred to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century. Whistler had embarked on this painting in July 1865 and within a month, he had completed the preliminary sketches and by September he had completed the work and had signed and dated it.

However, he was not happy with what he saw and began to rework it and Whistler was not finally satisfied with it until 1867 when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy. He painted over the final “5” in the original date, and replaced it with a “7”, to mark the changes it had undergone.

Whistler chose the term ‘Symphony’ to highlight to visitors to the exhibition that it was purely a study in colour and the connection of two branches of the Arts, music and art.. It was the first of Whistler’s paintings to be exhibited with a musical title. And so, why was it entitled “No. 3”?

The reason behind this numerical conundrum was that Whistler’s 1863 painting was given the title White Girl but Paul Mantz, a French art historian and writer for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, called it ‘Symphonie du blanc‘, and so it was later renamed Symphony in White. No. 1.

*Symphony in White No.2 by Whistler. Tate Britain.*

In 1864 Whistler completed a second similar work entitled The Little White Girl, which later became known as Symphony in White. No. 2. In their 1908 biography of Whistler, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell, make the point that this may have been a factor that influenced Whistler in his choice of titles for the third in the series.

The work was greatly admired by all who saw it. It is thought that Deagas drew inspiration from Whistler’s painting when he worked on his painting, Portrait de Mlle Eugénie Fiocre in the Ballet “La Source”

However, there were some critics who were not altogether in love with the work. Philip Hamerton, an English artist, art critic and author, writing for the Saturday Review on 1 June 1867, remarked:

“…In the “Symphony in White No. III.” by Mr. Whistler there are many dainty varieties of tint, but it is not precisely a symphony in white. One lady has a yellowish dress and brown hair and a bit of blue ribbon, the other has a red fan, and there are flowers and green leaves. There is a girl in white on a white sofa, but even this girl has reddish hair; and of course, there is the flesh colour of the complexions…”

Whistler was horrified by what had been written in the journal and wrote a letter to the editor but he would not print it. However in Whistler’s own book, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, he reproduced the letter in which he had written:

“…How pleasing that such profound prattle should inevitably find its place in print!…Bon Dieu! did this wise person expect white hair and chalked faces ? And does he then, in his astounding consequence, believe that a symphony in F contains no other note, but shall be a continued repetition of F, F, F ? . . . Fool!…”

*Two Peasants binding Faggots by Pieter Brueghel (c.1615)*

For my last offering in Part One of my blog relating to my best-loved works in the collection of the Barber Institute I have reverted to one of my favourite painters, Pieter Brueghel the Younger. He was the son of one of the greatest sixteenth century artists, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and the brother of Jan Breughel. This amusing and fascinating painting entitled Two Peasants binding Faggots, was completed around 1615, and it was the type of work which was popular in the seventeenth century. It was entitled Two Peasants binding Faggots. It is a depiction of peasants binding a bundle of stolen branches for firewood whilst their fellow accomplice is seen in the background cutting the branches of a tree. The two peasants in the foreground glance around furtively and from that we gather that they are up to no good, The larger of the two, on the left, is stout symbolising the sin of gluttony whilst his thinner and gaunt accomplice with a paler face and wearing a codpiece has a bandage around his head and it is thought that Brueghel has depicted this as it relates to the Flemish proverb “to have toothache behind the ears” meaning a malingerer. On the ground, next to the gaunt-looking man, is a pipe which is a traditional phallic symbol and represents the sin of lechery.

Bruegel Netherlandish Proverbs@0 — *Netherlandish Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525)*. Staatliche Museen Berlin.

The artist’s father, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, had painted a large work, Netherlandish Proverbs, in 1559, which featured a large number of similar characters each representing various Netherlandish proverbs which today is part of the Staatliche Museen collection in Berlin.

…………….to be continued.