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拍品專文
Simon de Vlieger began to depict coastal scenes in the 1630s. His earliest paintings of this type were marked by the warm blond tones of his master, Jan Porcellis. By the early 1640s, however, his palette had increasingly shifted towards the characteristic silvery-grey tonalities evident in this painting. Such scenes were to have a lasting influence on a younger generation of marine painters, among them de Vlieger’s most successful pupil, Willem van de Velde the Younger.
De Vlieger composed his beach scenes with elevated dunes along one side of the composition, figures selling fish at the high tide mark, and various small watercraft beached on the shore or wading in the shallows. Further visual interest is added by the addition of one or more elements in the central foreground; in this case two elegantly dressed men atop horses and their hound, who firmly fixes its gaze upon the day’s catch in the painting’s foreground.
Recent technical examination of the picture suggests that de Vlieger made significant changes to the central figural group. Infrared reflectography has revealed that he originally included a harbour seal pup and a second dog beneath the horses (fig. 1). Further changes are evident to the horses and riders, including to the head of the bay horse, which appears to be painted over an earlier feature; to the black hat of the figure in profile, which has been reduced in size in its final form; and to the second horse and rider, which appear only to have been added at a late stage in the painting process.
A close variant, with minor changes to the figures and vessels in the background and differing cloud formations, given to Jacob Esselens, is in the collection of Washington Old Hall, Washington Village, Washington, Tyne & Wear (inv. no. 591750).
De Vlieger composed his beach scenes with elevated dunes along one side of the composition, figures selling fish at the high tide mark, and various small watercraft beached on the shore or wading in the shallows. Further visual interest is added by the addition of one or more elements in the central foreground; in this case two elegantly dressed men atop horses and their hound, who firmly fixes its gaze upon the day’s catch in the painting’s foreground.
Recent technical examination of the picture suggests that de Vlieger made significant changes to the central figural group. Infrared reflectography has revealed that he originally included a harbour seal pup and a second dog beneath the horses (fig. 1). Further changes are evident to the horses and riders, including to the head of the bay horse, which appears to be painted over an earlier feature; to the black hat of the figure in profile, which has been reduced in size in its final form; and to the second horse and rider, which appear only to have been added at a late stage in the painting process.
A close variant, with minor changes to the figures and vessels in the background and differing cloud formations, given to Jacob Esselens, is in the collection of Washington Old Hall, Washington Village, Washington, Tyne & Wear (inv. no. 591750).