Storm at Sea (Lovers on the Seashore)
- Date
- before 1632
- Object type
- painting
- Technique
- oil
- Material
- wood
- Dimensions
- 22,3 x 71,3 cm
- Acquisition date
- 1793
- Location
- The Palace on the Isle - Hallway, 1st floor
- Marks and inscriptions
- red number 1817 of the Stanisław August collection, bottom right
- Place of Origin
- Netherlands (Europe)
- Owner
- The Royal Łazienki
- Museum number
- ŁKr 944
In the catalogues of the Stanisław August collection the painting is recorded as the work of an anonymous artist. … The attribution to Porcellis was suggested by Hanna Benesz and Maria Kluk … .
A close analogy to the Łazienki painting with regard to the atypical format and nocturnal character is a pair of paintings also painted on panels: A Storm at Sea (inv. no. RCIN 402633 … ) and A Sea Battle by Night (inv. no. RCIN 402744 … ), which Christopher White dated to before 1612 … , and Gerlinede de Beer to c. 1610 (‘Anmerkungen zum Werk von Jan Porcellis’, in: Ch. Dumas et al. (ed.), Liber Amicorum Marijke de Kinkelder. Collegiale bijdragen over landschappen, marines en architectuur, The Hague 2013, pp. 12–13)… . These paintings in the Royal Collection, Hampton Court, are believed to be earlier works by the artist … .
… the earliest dating of the painting can be set as 1563, whereas the most probable date of its execution would be c. 1572. …
The Łazienki painting shows a three-masted sailingship under the Dutch maritime flag (probably a fluita), battling against the storm, as the ship rises out of the sea. Three pairs of lovers watch its efforts from the shore. In the Netherlandish emblematic tradition—especially in emblem books dating from c. 1606–20—a sailing ship in a storm, thus under threat of unprecedented changes of its fate, was an allegory of love, which is always beset with uncertainty and risk … . [D. Juszczak, H. Małachowicz, The Stanisław August Collection of Paintings at the Royal Łazienki. Catalogue, Royal Łazienki Museum, Warsaw 2016, no. 86, pp. 323–324.]