Aelbert Cuyp, 'The Maas at Dordrecht in a Storm', about 1645-50
About the work
Overview
Aelbert Cuyp is best known for landscapes which evoke a strong sense of peace, plenty and prosperity. This picture, which is probably an early work, is very different. It is defined by the lightning which flashes across the sky above Cuyp’s home town of Dordrecht. It captures an instant – the moment when the gleaming rooftops and the church tower in the background have been illuminated by the sudden blaze of light.
In the foreground, the clouds seem to be clearing. A burst of sunlight catches the spray thrown back over the bow of the boat nearest us. The churning waves are capped with foam and the sail is blown taught against the rigging. But in the midst of this drama, there is also a quiet stoicism: the sailors seem calm and controlled while nature rages around them. If there is heroism here, it is the quiet heroism of endurance in the face of adversity.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Maas at Dordrecht in a Storm
- Artist
- Aelbert Cuyp
- Artist dates
- 1620 - 1691
- Date made
- about 1645-50
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 49.8 × 74.4 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by the Misses Rachel F. and Jean I. Alexander; entered the Collection, 1972
- Inventory number
- NG6405
- Location
- Room 19
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 18th-century French Frame
Provenance
Possibly the Earl of Halifax sale, London, 19 April 1782 (‘View of Dordrecht in a Storm’: sold to Nisbet for £67). Bryan sale, London, 17–18 May 1798 (lot 1798), ‘Cuyp: Thunderstorm: a grand and sublime effort of this great artist’; probably in the Baring collection, from which acquired by the Prince Regent; sent from Carlton House to Christie’s on 26 May 1814; Anon. sale (Prince of Wales), Christie’s, 29 June 1814 (lot 56), bought by Norton. Said to have been in the collection of F. Jorden, on whose death in 1844 it was sold to T. Barber; T. Barber sale, Christie’s, 5 May 1862 (lot 54); purchased by Peacock, from whose family bought by P. and D. Colnaghi. Purchased from Colnaghi’s by W.C. Alexander, 10 April 1886. Passed by descent to the Misses Rachel F. and Jean I. Alexander, who presented it by deed of gift to the National Gallery; entered the collection in 1972.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2021In the light of Cuyp. Aelbert Cuyp & Gainsborough – Constable – TurnerDordrechts Museum3 October 2021 - 8 May 2022
Bibliography
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1887Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School: Including a Collection of Water-Colour Drawings by Joseph M.W. Turner, R.A. (exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, January 1887 - March 1887), London 1887
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1907C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
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1907C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
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1953S. Reiss, 'Aelbert Cuyp', The Burlington Magazine, XCV/365, 1953
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1954Norwich Castle Museum, Catalogue of Loan Exhibition East Anglia and the Netherlands at the Norwich Castle Museum (exh. cat., Norwich Castle Museum, 25 June 1954 - 19 September 1954), Norwich 1954
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1972A. Smith, 'Presented by the Misses Rachel F. and Jean I. Alexander: Seventeen Paintings for the National Gallery', The Burlington Magazine, CXIV, 1972, pp. 630-4
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1972National Gallery, The Alexander Gift (exh. cat., National Gallery, 10 August 1972 - 17 September 1972), London 1972
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1973The National Gallery, The National Gallery: January 1971 - December 1972, London 1973
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1973S. Reiss, Aelbert Cuyp in British Collections (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 3 January - 11 February 1973), London 1973
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1976C. Brown, Art in Seventeenth Century Holland (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 30 September - 12 December 1976), London 1976
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1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
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1996J. Giltaij et al., Lof der zeevart (Praise of Ships and the Sea) (exh. cat. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 21 December 1996 - 23 February 1997; Gemäldegalerie, 21 March 1997 - 25 May 1997), Rotterdam 1996
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this work or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
More works by Aelbert Cuyp
(Showing 6 of 11 works)
This small, evocative painting shows the work of Aelbert Cuyp at the peak of his maturity as an artist. It’s a picture full of light and reflections, transforming a simple view of a river at evening time into visual harmony.Light puffy clouds lit by the evening sun drift overhead, leaving patches...
The scarlet coat of the horseman catches our attention and we instinctively follow the direction of his whip, which he points away into the distance. And the concept of distance – just as much as the animals and figures in the foreground – is at the heart of this painting. Aelbert Cuyp has constr...
Not on display
We're looking at a landscape in the Low Countries, probably the flatlands between Nijmegen and Cleves in the eastern part of the Netherlands, which Cuyp had visited in the early 1650s. But the golden light, and that implied heat, is more reminiscent of southern Europe than the north. It was a com...
Aelbert Cuyp made this painting when he was aged about 20 or 21 and it shows his early grasp of how to create a sense of distance and evoke the atmosphere of a cloudy day in the Low Countries.At the time, Cuyp was much influenced by the landscape painter Jan van Goyen. Both artists used a very re...
Not on display
It is the animals which take centre stage in this picture. On a grassy riverside knoll, four cows and a magnificent jet black horse are spotlit by the warm afternoon sun. Aelbert Cuyp was a brilliant painter of these beasts, especially cattle. He knew exactly how to convey their languor and ponde...
On display elsewhere
Aelbert Cuyp is famous for his landscapes but he also painted a small number of portraits, of which this is a rare example. For some time it was believed that the sitter might be Cuyp’s father, Jacob, a portraitist who taught his son to paint. However, it is now believed to depict Cornelis van So...
Not on display
Clear, soft light illuminates a peaceful landscape, giving a sense that everything is in its place and all’s well with the world. But the rider’s attention is caught by a young lad who seems to point anxiously towards something likely to disturb the tranquillity. Crouched in the bushes on the lef...
Cows often feature in pastoral landscapes, but it is rare for them to be given quite such heroic status as the four monumental brown beasts which dominate the foreground of this large canvas. They relegate the shepherd to the hill and the milkmaid, who funnels the results of her labour into a bra...
This painting is very similar to but roughly half the size of another landscape by Aelbert Cuyp, also in the National Gallery’s collection: A Distant View of Dordrecht, with a Milkmaid and Four Cows, and Other Figures. We don't know which was painted first but presumably one of Cuyp’s customers s...
The ruins of this castle seem to have been absorbed by the landscape. Aelbert Cuyp has employed the same palette of colours and the same camouflage patterns to depict the crumbling walls as he used for the autumnal woods and the hillside behind. The reflections in the still waters of the lake add...
Imitator of Aelbert Cuyp
This peaceful rural idyll is possibly a copy of an unknown painting by the great Dutch landscape painter Aelbert Cuyp. It may even be a pastiche imitating his style by Jacob van Strij, who painted such pictures.The vast sky and the distant windmill, water and trees are typical of Cuyp’s view of t...
Not on display
You've viewed 6 of 11 works