Van de Velde

van de Velde: see Velde, van de.

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Velde, Van de 

A family of 17th-century Dutch painters. The best-known are Esaias, Willem, and Adriaen van de Velde.

Esaias van de Velde. Born circa 1590-91 in Amsterdam; buried Nov. 18, 1630, in The Hague. From 1610 he worked in Haarlem and from 1618 onward in The Hague. He was one of the founders of the Dutch School of landscape painting (Landscape With Riders, 1623, Hermitage, Leningrad; Dune Landscape, 1629, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). With time he acquired a simplicity and naturalness of style in his depiction of forms, an integral emotional feeling for the life of nature linked to the lives of simple folk, and a unity of tone enriched by contrasts of light and shade. The sharpness of his observation of life can also be seen in his genre paintings (Company on the Terrace, 1622, Hermitage) and battle scenes (The Attack on the Van, 1626, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow).

Willem van de Velde. Baptized Dec. 18, 1633, in Leiden; died Apr. 6, 1707, in London. He worked in Amsterdam and from 1673 onward in London. He painted seascapes in bright colors, depicting calm or slightly rough seas with large silhouettes of ships and lofty skies with swirling clouds. His paintings convey an impression of triumph and heroism (Shipping in a Calm, 1657, National Gallery, London; Salute of Guns, Staatliche Museen, Berlin-Dahlem).

Adriaen van de Velde. Baptized Nov. 30, 1636, in Amsterdam; buried Jan. 21, 1672, in Amsterdam. He was a brother of Willem. His work covers practically all genres of Dutch painting and drawing (portrait, religious, mythological, and allegorical), but he also acquired fame as a painter of landscapes with human and animal figures (The Beach at Scheveningen, 1658, Art Gallery, Kassel; The Farm, 1666, Staatliche Museen, Berlin-Dahlem). The attraction of his landscapes lies in his bright festive attitude to nature and the transparent freshness and purity of his delicate shades of color. At the same time his democratic traditions gradually gave way to contemplation, elegant refinement, and idyllic forms and finally to an attachment to Italian motifs and pastoral scenes.

REFERENCE

Zoege von Manteuffel, K. Die Künstlerfamilie van de Velde. Bielefeld-Leipzig, 1927.