Oil Painting, 'Fishing boats: a Roughish Sea', after Ludolf Bakhuizen, 19th century

Fishing boats on a roughish sea with a rowboat in the foreground and sailing vessels in the background.

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, 1868
Ref : Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xix.

'Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868) was born into a wealthy family, only son of Henry Hare Townsend of Busbridge Hall, Godalming, Surrey. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1821). Succeeded to the family estates 1827, when he added 'h' to the Townsend name. He had taken holy orders, but while he always referred to himself as 'Rev.' on the title pages of his books, he never practised his vocation... . Very much a dilettante in the eighteenth-century sense, he moved in the highest social and literary circles; a great friend of Charles Dickens (he was the dedicatee of Great Expectations) with whom he shared a fascination of mesmerism... Bulwer Lytton described his life's 'Beau-deal of happiness' as 'elegant rest, travel, lots of money - and he is always ill and melancholy'. Of the many watercolours and British and continental oil paintings he bequeathed to the V&A, the majority are landscapes. He is the first identifiable British collector of early photographs apart from the Prince Consort, particularly landscape photography, and also collected gems and geological specimens.'

Historical significance: Formerly (1893 catalogue) attributed to Bakhuizen, this painting is copy, probably of 19th century date, of an original work by Bakhuysen, formerly in the Cartwright Collection, Aynho Park. This is a typical example of the artist's stormy seascapes. Bakhuysen's marine paintings were widely appreciated until the 19th century.

Ludolf Bakhuysen became a leading marine painter in Amsterdam during the second half of the 17th century, especially after his two main rivals, the van de Veldes, father and son, moved to England. His style was widely emulated. and among his pupils were Jan Claesz. Rietshoof (1652-1719), Pieter Coopse (active 1657/8) and Michiel Maddersteeg (ca. 1659-1709). He developed a large repertory of marine subjects, as well as painting portraits, allegorical and religious subjects. He produced large-scale pictures ranging from naval battles to harbour views, ships in stormy weather and dramatic shipwrecks. Only occasionally did he paint calm seascapes.

Maritime painting emerged as a distinct genre in the 17th-century Dutch Republic, initiated by Hendrick Cornelisz. Vroom (1566-1640). From the 1620s, a huge market developed for marine paintings, by such artists as Porcellis, de Vlieger, van de Cappelle, and van de Velde the younger, in which the interest lies in the broader depiction of atmospheric effects, and in the variable mood of the sea. The Anglo-Dutch Wars revived interest in historical subjects, and after Willem van de Velde and his son were appointed as painters to Charles II, the market in marine painting moved to London. The early marine paintings of Turner emulated Dutch painters, such as van de Cappelle and van de Velde the younger, but his more dramatic vision inspired the next generation of British marine artists, such as Edward William Cooke (1811-80), and Clarkson Stanfield (1793-1867).

Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630-1708) was born in Emden (Germany) and moved to Amsterdam in about 1650, where he started to execute pen and ink drawings in the manner of Willem van de Velde the Elder. He is said to have learnt to paint in oil from the marine painters Hendrick Dubbels and Allaert van Everdingen. He joined the Amsterdam Guild of St Luke in 1663 and became the leading Marine painter in Amsterdam after the departure of Willem van de Velde father and son.

A 19th-century copy of a marine painting by Ludolf Bakhuysen, formerly in the Cartwright collection, Aynho Park. The artist frequently treated sailboats as the subjects of his marine compositions either close to the shore or out at sea. Bakhuysen belong to the same generation of both famous marine painters van de Velde father and son but whereas the van de Velde were more concerned with representing the technical aspects of sailing vessels and naval battles, Bakhuysen focused his attention on the rendering of the changing climate and magnificent skies of the Netherlands.

1359-1869