Lot 1226 Dα

In the development of Dutch marine painting, Simon de Vlieger stands between the early seascapes by Jan Porcellis and those of the later generations around Wilhelm van de Velde the Younger who was a pupil of de Vlieger. This position can also be seen in this coastal landscape. Its palette does not show the strict grey tonality of Porcellis´s paintings anymore, it is brighter und clearer. De Vlieger was a contemporary of Jan van Goyen, who was only slightly older, and this can be seen in certain elements like the low horizon or the composition of the sky and the clouds whith which the artist defines the pictorial space and creates atmosphere. Simon de Vlieger´s skills can be seen in the arrangement of the boats and the ship that seems accidential but is obviously deliberately composed.
The popularity of marines as a genre of landscape painting was based on the pride that the Dutch felt about their position as a leading sea power. (Marines were among those landscapes that obtained the highest prices). This pride that the Dutch beholder of such paintings sensed is represented by the figures that often stand in the foreground regarding the ships and boats flagged with the Dutch banner.