(Rotterdam 1621–1676)
Ships and boats at sea,
traces of a signature and dated lower right,
oil on panel, 58.5 x 75.8 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 21 May 1985, lot 159 (as Jacob Adriaensz. Bellevois);
with Caretto, Turin, in 2005;
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibition:
Turin, Caretto Gallery, 26a Mostra Maestri Fiamminghi ed Olandesi del XVI-XVII secolo, 55 opere d’autore, November – December 1985, no. 5 (as Jacob Adriaensz Bellevois)

The present painting is listed in the RKD database (image no. 0000018914) as Jacob Bellevois.

Jacob Adriaensz. Bellevois was a Dutch marine painter whose works are stylistically similar to those by the artists Jan Porcellis and Simon de Vlieger. Warships and rowing boats caught in rough seas appear throughout his oeuvre. More rarely however, like de Vlieger, are his depictions of stormy seas featuring imaginary rocky outcrops and shipwrecks. Details of the ships’ features, such as the sails and tillers, as well as the undulation of the waves, are summarily treated while the atmosphere is rendered in ochre and grey tones.

The present painting can be compared to a signed and dated work by Bellevois of 1663 which is conserved in the Bredius Museum, The Hague (The Meuse near Dordrecht, inv. no. 21-1946).