CAPPELLE, Jan van de

This type of subject in the oeuvres of Van de Cappelle, Willem van de Velde, and other masters active in the 1650s and 1660s derives from a group of “naval parades” by Simon de Vlieger, and above all from his panel of 1649 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. In a broad view, the theme of these paintings, which flourished right after the Treaty of M�nster (1648) is peace in the Netherlands after many years of war.

Cappelle’s compositions gain strength and monumentality by the union of tectonic and dynamic features, and are classic in their perfection. He calms the agitated seas painted by Porcellis and young Simon de Vlieger. Few of Cappelle’s marines are sea paintings in the strict sense of the word: most of them represent the mouths of wide rivers or quiet inner harbours, where group of ships parade or lie anchor in mirror-smooth waters.

The sea is extremely placid, the ships reflecting in the calm water. The sky is predominantly silver-grey, and the groups of ships floating on the smooth sea provide accents of brown. Its peacefulness and simplicity bestow this seascape with a certain grandeur.

Jan van de Cappelle is today considered to be one of the greatest of Dutch marine painters. According to a contemporary he was self-taught but he clearly took as his models Simon de Vlieger and Jan Porcellis, works by both of whom were in his own large collection of paintings and drawings. Porcellis had been the first marine painter to break with the dominant Mannerist style of Hendrick Vroom, in whose paintings elaborately described two-dimensional ships were tossed on the top of bright green waves. Porcellis adopted a very restricted grey, black and white palette to paint realistic scenes of storms at sea, a style which De Vlieger developed in the direction of greater naturalism by extending the range of the palette and the ambition of the compositions.

Van de Cappelle further extended the possibilities of this naturalistic style. He employs a low horizon, as Ruisdael and Koninck did in their landscapes, and consequently the sky assumes almost as great a significance as the scene beneath it. Although carefully composed, van de Cappelle’s paintings seem to give the impression of a scene glimpsed suddenly by cutting off parts of ships on one or both sides of the composition - as here on the left. In this painting of 1650 the focus of the scene is the States’ yacht in the centre with the Dutch flag and the coat of arms on her stern: she is firing a salute and a trumpeter on board is sounding. In the right foreground is a row-barge also flying the Dutch flag and with a distinguished man in the stern with the Dutch colours in his hat. It is this visitor who has presumably just left the yacht. Van de Cappelle was especially skilful at representing the cluster of masts and sails, and the reflections of the ships in the unruffled surface of the water.

This painting depicts a real event, probably the arrival of Friderick Henry and William II of Orania.

Van de Cappelle, who lived and worked in Amsterdam, produced relatively few paintings. His family owned a dye-works, from which he derived his considerable wealth, and he amassed a fascinating collection of works by other artists.

This signed and dated marine composition is an example of the calm, expansive seascapes for which Jan van de Cappelle is renowned. The view is from the water’s edge, looking across shallows in which fishermen are unloading small rowing boats to the right, while in the centre a group of sailing vessels are tied together whilst similarly being unloaded. At the left is an elevated dock with a group of onlookers conversing as a lone figure attempts to climb to shore.

In the centre a group of sailing vessels are tied together whilst being unloaded.

Cappelle was principally a landscape painter, developing a type of scene known as a “parade” in which he depicts a gathering of large boats on a calm sea, normally near a port, where they have assembled for an official event.

Cappelle belongs to the generation of Ruisdael and Cuyp. His compositions, like theirs, gain strength and monumentality by the union of tectonic and dynamic features and are classic in their perfection. He calms the agitated seas painted by Porcellis and young Simon de Vlieger.

Few of Cappelle’s marines are sea paintings in the strict sense of the word: most of them represent the mouth of wide rivers or quiet inner harbours, where groups of ships parade or lie at anchor in mirror-smooth waters. Masts make a pattern of verticals which is coordinated with the horizontals of hulls and the low horizon. The haze found in works by earlier marine painters lifts, and the middle distance acquires more real existence between the foreground forms and the minute details of the far distance. Space opens up widely, yet the design is well-balanced and maintains a powerful coherence as a whole.

Essential qualities of van de Cappelle are his full cloud formations, the wonderful transparency of his shadows, and the subtlety of his colourful reflections in calm waters. Early morning or evening are his favourite hours. He was not a man to paint sea battles. His is a holiday mood: cannons salute, drums roll, pennants flutter, and noble personages ride in richly carved, gilded barge. Not many of his works are dated, but it is reasonable to assume that his simple compositions done in silvery greys, which recall Porcellis and de Vlieger, belong to an early phase, and the more complex, colourful works with a golden tonality were done after 1650.

He also painted some beach scenes and more than forty winter landscapes. These, like his marines, render nature with a wonderful feeling for the pictorial qualities of Holland’s sea atmosphere, with its heavy clouds and translucent air.

Cappelle is mainly known as a marine painter. However, he also painted some beach scenes and more than forty winter landscapes. These, like his marines, render nature with a wonderful feeling for the pictorial qualities of Holland’s sea atmosphere, with its heavy clouds and translucent air.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):

Vivaldi: Concerto in F minor RV 297 op. 8 No. 4 (Winter)

This painting shows a winter landscape by a frozen pond, a figure dragging a pile of driftwood and a mother and child by the gate of a house.

This work is part of a small group of winter landscapes by Jan van de Cappelle, who is better known for his marine paintings. His winter scenes are characterised by an austerity and restraint which sees figures subordinated to the subject of the landscape itself, its atmosphere, and light, expressed through a muted and subtle palette.