Hendrick Dubbels, 'A Dutch Yacht and Other Vessels Becalmed near the Shore', about 1660-70
About the work
Overview
A man sits on a spit of land, his body reaching towards the sea, the line of his gaze drawing our eyes to the boats he watches. Perhaps he longs to be on board; perhaps he looks out for someone about to land. Or perhaps he’s just held by the visual poetry of the vessels themselves, the seemingly endless number of blues in the vast sky or the perfect reflections in the limpid water. On the right, a state yacht waits for the breeze, its sail barely moving, the Dutch colours at its peak drooping and its crew idle.
Life in seventeenth-century Holland was often lived on the water – and there were so many marine artists it seems that if the Dutch weren't on a boat, they were looking at pictures of them. Henrick Dubbels was one of the most successful of these artists.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Dutch Yacht and Other Vessels Becalmed near the Shore
- Artist
- Hendrick Dubbels
- Artist dates
- 1621 - 1707
- Date made
- about 1660-70
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 48.3 × 48.1 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Salting Bequest, 1910
- Inventory number
- NG2587
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
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.
Bibliography
-
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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1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
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1989U. Middendorf, Hendrik Jacobsz. Dubbels (1621-1707), Freren 1989
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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
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting 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.