CLAES CLAESZ. WOU | A ROCKY COAST IN A STORM

With Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam, 1964;

F.C. Butôt, Sankt Gilgen, Austria, by 1972;

His posthumous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 16 November 1993, lot 15, when acquired.

Dordrechts, Dordrechts Museum, Zee, Rivier en Oevergezichten, July – September 1964, no. 111;

Salzburg, Museumpavillon im Mirabellgarten, 12 July – 12 September 1972; Münster, Westfälisches Landesmuseum, 26 September 1972 – 14 January 1973, Niederländische Kunst aus dem Goldenen Jahrhundert, unnumbered;

Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Hollandse en Vlaamse Kunst uit de 17e eeuw, 16 February – 1 April 1973, unnumbered.

The SØR Rusche Collection has been exhibited extensively over the last two decades. Please click here for further information.

Zee, Rivier en Oevergezichten, Dordrecht 1964, exh. cat., cat. no. 111, reproduced fig. 82;

Niederländisches Kunst aus dem Goldenen Jahrhundert--Gemälde und Zeichnungen im Umkreis grosser Meister aus der Sammlung F.C. Butôt, exh. cat., Salzburg 1972, pp. 178–79;

Hollandse en Vlaamse kunst uit de 17e eeuw: hoogtepunten van minder bekende meesters: schilderijen en tekeningen uit de verzameling F.C. Butôt, exh. cat., Rotterdam 1973, pp. 178–79;

L.J. Bol, Die holländische Marinemalerei des 17. Jahrhunderts, Brunswick 1973, p. 81, reproduced p. 84, fig. 82;

Die Sprache der Bilder: Realität und Bedeutung in der niederländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts, exh. cat., Brunswick 1978, p. 47, footnote 11;

L.J. Bol, G. Keyes and F.C. Butôt, Netherlandish paintings and drawings from the collection of F.C. Butôt by little-known and rare masters of the seventeenth century, London 1981, pp. 218–19, cat. no. 92, reproduced in colour;

H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. 3, Landschaften und Seestücke, Münster/Hamburg/London 2001, pp. 304–05, cat. no. 81, reproduced in colour.

About the size of a large postcard, this painting is an eloquent tonal description of the cold, stormy atmosphere of the sea on a forbidding coastline. The scudding clouds, choppy waves, and the small forms of the seagulls borne aloft by the gusts of wind are convincingly conveyed through energetic brushwork and a number of shades of grey.

This painting has previously been recorded as monogrammed and dated 1656, lower right.