Wigerus Vitringa, dated 1685 (?)
 | Outside the Box Although there are one or two not dissimilar examples in van de Velde's oeuvre, it seems to me that the desire to involve the spectator in the life of the picture is often more intensely explicit in Monamy, as it is in other Dutch marine painters, eg Bakhuysen. To be fair, however, perhaps some of the most successful of the van de Velde canvases do show the same. |
The similarities between the above unattributed picture and Monamy's East Indiaman have already been noted, here. Part of the vitality of both paintings lies in having the main ship seem to leave the frame, almost in anticipation of 20th century film technique. Preposterous? Both these ships are exiting the box. |
In my view it is precisely this sense of the picture's content entering the spectator's space which gives it life and originality. Perhaps I am alone in my subjective experience. Breezing Out: Jersey stamp illustrated by a "Flemish artist". |
authentic monamy © Charles Harrison Wallace 2006 |