EERTVELT, Andries van
(b. 1590, Antwerpen, d. 1652, Antwerpen)

Ships in Peril

1623
Oil on canvas, 170 x 315 cm
Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent

The precise origins of Ships in Peril by Andries van Eertvelt cannot be identified, it most likely came from a monastery in Ghent. The work is signed and dated 1623 and is an early example of a genre that was to become exceptionally popular in the Low Countries in the17th century. Although the painting has a moral message, it will have been primarily decorative in purpose like the landscapes from around Brussels.