Influence · Predecessor · 1633–1707
Turner and Willem van de Velde the Younger: The Dutch Marine Model
The seventeenth-century Dutch marine painter Turner learned the sea from. He is said to have credited one van de Velde with making him a painter.
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Who he was
Willem van de Velde the Younger, 1633 to 1707, worked first in the Netherlands and then in England under Charles II, producing marine paintings of unmatched technical authority. His work was widely collected in Britain and reproduced in engravings, so it was thoroughly available to any ambitious young London painter.
What Turner learned
How to build a sea that actually behaves. The low viewpoint, the accurate specification of vessel types, the measurement of a storm by its effect on small craft and the treatment of a grey northern sky are all van de Velde's, and they underpin Turner's marine work from 1796 onwards.
The remark
Turner is reported to have said of a van de Velde that it made him a painter, pointing to a specific picture as the origin of his ambition. The account comes to us at second hand, as most of his remarks do, so it is tradition rather than documented testimony.
Questions
What did the Dutch marine painters give Turner?
A working method for painting the sea itself. The low viewpoint, the accurate specification of vessel types, the measurement of a storm by its effect on small craft and the handling of a grey northern sky are all conventions he took from them and used from his first exhibited oil onwards.
Did Turner say a van de Velde made him a painter?
He is reported to have said so, pointing at a particular picture as the origin of his ambition. Like most remarks attributed to Turner it reaches us second hand rather than in his own writing, so it should be treated as tradition. The influence itself is not in doubt and runs through his marine work.