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Marine art facts for kids

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Rembrandt Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee
Rembrandt's famous painting, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633).

Marine art is a type of art that shows the sea, ships, and everything connected to water. This includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints. Artists get their ideas from oceans, rivers, and even beaches. Marine art became very popular from the 1600s to the 1800s. It often features boats, harbors, and beautiful coastlines. While 'maritime art' usually includes people or boats, 'marine art' can also show just the sea itself.

Boten in de sneeuw-Rijksmuseum RP-P-1994-8
A 20th-century Japanese ukiyo-e print called Boats in Snow.
Willem van de Velde the Elder - The Capture of the Royal Prince during the Four Days' Battle 1666
Willem van de Velde the Elder's The Capture of the Royal Prince during the Four Days' Battle, 1666.

Ancient Boats and Early Art

People have drawn boats and water scenes for thousands of years! Some of the oldest rock carvings, called petroglyphs, are from 12,000 BCE in Gobustan, Azerbaijan. They show simple reed boats. Similar carvings of ships have been found on Greek islands, dating back to 4,000 BCE.

In Ancient Egyptian art, you can see people and gods on river "barges." Many boats were made from papyrus reeds. Pharaohs used expensive cedar boats, like the huge Khufu ship from around 2500 BCE. Egyptian tomb paintings often show hunting from boats on the Nile delta. Detailed boat models were even placed in tombs for the afterlife.

Ships sometimes appeared in Ancient Greek vase painting and on coins. Ancient Roman art often showed landscapes with calm lakes or bays. The large Nile mosaic of Palestrina from the 1st century BCE shows the entire Nile River.

During the Middle Ages, ships were shown in art when needed for stories. The 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry famously shows the Norman Invasion of England with many ships. Port seals from the 12th century often featured a "ship portrait." These images sometimes represented the church.

Early European Marine Art (1400s-1500s)

In the 1400s, marine art became more detailed in the Netherlands. Artists like Jan van Eyck created amazing miniatures showing the sea and weather. Illuminated manuscripts often featured realistic ships. Wealthy people also loved fancy metal sculptures called "nefs," shaped like ships.

Interest in ships grew through early prints. An artist known as Master W with the Key made some of the first detailed ship engravings. The first print of a naval battle was a huge woodcut of the Battle of Zonchio in 1499.

Carpaccio, Vittore - Arrivo a Colonia
Vittore Carpaccio, Arrival of the Pilgrims in Cologne, 1490.

In Italian Renaissance art, Vittore Carpaccio from Venice often painted scenes of canals and docks.

In the 1500s, "world landscape" paintings became popular in the Netherlands, often including large areas of water. The Protestant Reformation led to more non-religious art, including landscapes and historical scenes featuring the sea.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted marine subjects, like Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (around 1568) and a large Naval Battle in the Gulf of Naples. The Anthony Roll was a special book made for King Henry VIII in the 1540s, listing Royal Navy ships.

Bruegel, Pieter de Oude - De val van icarus - hi res
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, a famous work often linked to Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Artists in the 1500s also started painting dramatic storms. As naval battles became more common, there was a greater demand for paintings showing these events. Artists focused on showing ships correctly.

The Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover
A painting showing King Henry VIII embarking at Dover.
Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. 038b
A dramatic Storm scene, around 1568.

The Golden Age of Dutch Marine Painting

The 1600s were a "Golden Age" for Dutch art, especially marine painting! The Dutch Republic was very wealthy due to sea trade and fishing. They also had many naval battles. Their country was full of rivers and canals, making sea and ship paintings incredibly popular.

Vroom Hendrick Cornelisz Dutch Ships Ramming Spanish Galleys off the Flemish Coast in October 1602
Dutch Ships Ramming Spanish Galleys (1617) by Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom.

Artists like Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom started painting from a lower viewpoint, making scenes feel more real. Many paintings showed Dutch ships flying their national flag. Artists often included land, like beaches or harbors, or views across wide rivers. Some, like Salomon van Ruysdael, specialized in river scenes.

Marine painting and landscape painting grew together, especially in how they showed the sky. Artists likely used detailed models of ships for accuracy.

Salomon van Ruisdael Deventer
View of Deventer (1657) by Salomon van Ruysdael, a typical river scene.

The workshop of Willem van de Velde the Elder and his son, Willem van de Velde the Younger, became very famous. They focused on making the ship the main subject. In 1672, the Van de Veldes moved to London and painted for the English court. This left Ludolf Bakhuizen as a top marine artist in Amsterdam.

Reinier Nooms, a former sailor, was known for his accurate battle scenes and ship portraits. The Dutch style of marine art spread to other countries.

Schepen aan lager wal - Ships running aground - The 'Ridderschap' and 'Hollandia' in trouble in the Street of Gibraltar 1-3 March 1694 (Ludolf Backhuysen, 1708)
Ludolf Bakhuizen's painting of Dutch warships near Gibraltar in 1690.

Most marine art was done by specialists. However, some famous artists, like Rembrandt, created powerful seascapes. His The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633) is his only true seascape. Claude Lorrain created beautiful harbor scenes.

Naval Art and Exploration in the 1700s

The 1700s saw many naval battles, creating a big demand for exciting paintings. Many talented artists specialized in marine art, focusing on accurate ships. These were often commissioned by captains and ship-owners. Many artists had real experience at sea, like Nicholas Pocock, a former merchant captain.

Hodges, Resolution and Adventure in Matavai Bay
William Hodges painted The Resolution and Adventure in Matavai Bay (Tahiti) in 1776.

Venetian artists Canaletto and Francesco Guardi painted beautiful cityscapes of Venice, often featuring canals and gondolas. Both were masters at capturing water and light.

Naval students learned drawing for new maps. Artists like John Thomas Serres taught at naval schools. Professional artists, such as William Hodges, traveled on voyages of exploration with people like James Cook. They brought back popular paintings of exotic coastal scenes.

Vernet, Claude Joseph - The Shipwreck - 1772
The Shipwreck (1772) by Claude Joseph Vernet.

French painter Claude Joseph Vernet was famous for his dramatic scenes of storms and shipwrecks. He also created a series of paintings showing French harbors. Watson and the Shark (1778) by John Singleton Copley is a famous marine history painting.

From Romanticism to Modern Marine Art

The Romantic period brought marine painting back into the main art world. Many artists still specialized in "ship portraits."

Slave-ship
The Slave Ship (1840) by J. M. W. Turner, a powerful Romantic artwork.

One of the most famous Romantic paintings is Théodore Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa (1819). For J. M. W. Turner, painting the sea was a lifelong passion. His works were like dramatic landscapes, often abstract, like Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth (1842).

Hovhannes Aivazovsky - The Ninth Wave - Google Art Project
Ivan Aivazovsky's dramatic The Ninth Wave (1850).

Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky continued painting battles, shipwrecks, and storms with strong Romantic feelings, as in The Ninth Wave (1850). River, harbor, and coastal scenes were popular with artists like Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Gustave Courbet painted many beach scenes. Édouard Manet painted important events, including the Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama (1864).

HMS Pomone (retouched)
HMS Pomone, a lithograph by Thomas Goldsworthy Dutton.

The "ship portrait" style came to America with artists like James E. Buttersworth. Winslow Homer focused on marine scenes with small boats in rough seas, like The Gulf Stream.

Eugène Poittevin, Les Bains de Mer, Plage d’Etretat, 1864
Sea Bathing, the Beach at Étretat (1864) by Eugène Lepoittevin.

Later in the 1800s, coasts became places for fun. Beach scenes without ships became popular. The Impressionists painted many beaches, cliffs, and rivers. Claude Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise (1872) gave the Impressionist movement its name!

Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool
Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool (1919) by Edward Wadsworth.

During World War I, British artist Sir Norman Wilkinson invented dazzle camouflage. Ships were painted with bold patterns to confuse enemy submarines.

Today, specialized marine painters still create ship portraits. Many people still prefer paintings of traditional sailing ships. Marine subjects continue to inspire many artists.

Marine Art in East Asia

In East Asian art, especially Chinese ink and brush paintings, rivers with small boats were common. Artists often focused on the land, leaving the water as white space. Some Chinese court paintings showed detailed scenes of ships on rivers, like in long scrolls depicting city life.

A court painting showing Along the River During the Qingming Festival, with many boats on the river.
Tsunami by hokusai 19th century
The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai, around 1830, a very famous Japanese print.

Popular Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints often featured coastal and river scenes with ships. The most famous example is The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1832) by Hokusai, which is known worldwide!

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