Ships in a Gale

Willem van de Velde the Younger

Oil on panel

National Gallery of Art

This dramatic 17th-century masterpiece captures two storm-tossed sailing vessels—one Dutch, one English—desperately battling churning seas near treacherous rocks that have already claimed a third ship. Van de Velde the Younger, the leading Dutch marine painter of his era, learned his craft from his father and studied light effects under Simon de Vlieger, resulting in this breathtaking display of fluid brushwork, atmospheric clouds, and photographically accurate ships with their rigging flailing in the wind. The painting may commemorate an actual naval disaster during the First Anglo-Dutch War when a December 1653 storm in the Gulf of Lyon devastated a Dutch squadron and their English prizes. Perfect for lovers of maritime history and dramatic seascapes, this work brings the raw power of the sea into any space.