nique had great appeal for his contemporaries and for
eighteenth-century collectors as well.
WILLEM VAN DE YELDE THE ELDER
Leiden circa ion-London 1693
The marine painter Willem van de Velde the Elder was
the father of the painters Willem the Younger and Ad-
riaen van de Velde. It is not known with whom Willem
the Elder trained. A resident of Leiden in 1633 , he had
moved to Amsterdam by 1636. His entire oeuvre, begin-
ning with his earliest drawing of 1638, is devoted to the
depiction of ships and marine life. An inveterate traveler,
he made sketching voyages with trade ships to the Baltic
during the early 16405 and with the Dutch fleet during
much of the remainder of the decade. During the 16505
he accompanied the Dutch fleet into action as official re-
cording artist. His drawings often served as the bases for
prints or for "pen paintings," large-scale drawings on
prepared panel or canvas like The Battle of the Downs
against the Spanish Armada, signed and dated 1659 (Rijks-
museum). Van de Velde worked in England from 1660
until early 1662, when he returned to Holland. During
the ensuing years he was frequently at sea recording the
Anglo-Dutch war. Among his major paintings of the
1670s is The Battle ofSchoonveld of 1673 (Greenich, Na-
tional Maritime Museum). By 1673 the artist and Willem
the Younger had emigrated to England, where they re-
ceived commissions from King Charles II. The elder van
de Velde stayed on in the service of James II and cele-
brated William and Mary's assumption of power in a
drawing of 1688 (Museum Boymans-van Beuningen).
He worked actively until his death in London in 1693.
PAOLO VERONESE (Paolo Caliari)
Verona 1528-Venice 1588
Veronese, best known for his grandiose civic and reli-
gious painting cycles, received his artistic training in Ve-
rona from Antonio Badile. The early fresco decorations
(1551) for the Villa Soranza near Castelfranco suggest a
knowledge of the art of Correggio, Parmigianino, and
Giulio Romano. Moving to Venice in 1553, Veronese
worked in the Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci in the Palazzo
Ducale, and began a series of projects for the church of
San Sebastiano, including the Triumph of the Mordecai of
- His youthful production culminated in the my-
thologies and allegories painted in Palladio s Villa Bár-
baro (now Volpe), Maser, in 1561. A noted portraitist, he
imparted a serene, imposing air to his subjects, which are
enriched with fine details of color and texture, as can be
seen in Portrait of a Woman (Louvre). His large "feast
paintings" include the Marriage at Cana of 1562-6 3 (Ac-
cademia) and Feast in the House ofLevi of 1573 (Louvre).
They are remarkable for their skillful and harmonious
organization of large groups before stabilizing architec-
tural backgrounds.DAVID VINCKBOONS
Mechelen i576-Amsterdam(?) circa 1632
David was the son of the artist Philip Vinckboons. In
1579 the family moved to Antwerp, and the father en-
tered the guild of Saint Luke. According to Carel van
Mander, the elder Vinckboons was a specialist in water-
color and trained his son in this medium. Fleeing reli-
gious persecution, the family left Antwerp in 1586, set-
tling temporarily in the city of Middelburg in the north
Netherlands and permanently in Amsterdam by 1591.
David married in 1602 and established himself in Am-
sterdam, buying a house in 1611 and eventually taking
on a number of pupils, including Gillis d'Hondecoeter
and probably Esaias van de Velde. His wife is listed as a
widow in January 1633, but the exact date of his death is
not known. Vinckboons's early forest scenes, such as
View with a Hunt of 1602 (formerly Stockholm, Dr. Ei-
nar Perman) display the influence of Gillis van Coninx-
loo. His depictions of low-life subjects—as in Peasant
Kermis of circa 1601 (Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsamm-
lungen)—and aristocratic fêtes in parks—as in Outdoor
Merry Company of 1610 (Vienna, Akademie der Bil-
denden Künste)—are important for the development of
these genres in Dutch painting of the seventeenth
century. Vinckboons's influence was especially wide-
spread due to numerous engravings made after his
compositions.SIMON DE VLIEGER
Rotterdam circa i6oi-Weesp 1653
De Vlieger might have trained under Willem van de
Velde the Elder or Jan Porcellis. He was active in Rotter-
dam from the later 16205 until 1633, in Delft from 1634
through early 1638 , and in Amsterdam from mid-i638
until 1648. As a painter he is known principally for his
seascapes; those executed during his early career exhibit
the influence of Porcellis. An early tendency to portray
dramatic rocky coasts gives way in later works such as
Calm Sea of 1649 (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum)
to the depiction of placid, deeply spatial marine vistas.
De Vlieger also painted beach scenes, such as The Beach
at Scheveningen of 1643 (Mauritshuis), as well as a few
landscapes. From 1649 on he lived in Weesp, save for a
brief return to Rotterdam in 1652. Most of his many sur-
viving drawings are landscapes and, to a lesser degree,
studies of animals. He was also a talented printmaker.ARTISTS BIOGRAPHIES 349