Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating exhibition at the Queen’s House in Greenwich looking at the work of father and son painters the Van de Veldes. The painters specialised in sea and ship pictures and were brought over from the Netherlands by Charles II where he had probably known them when he was in exile. He gave them a studio in the Queen’s House so it was magical to see the paintings in the buildings they were probably painted in. The centre piece of the show was a recently conserved tapestry designed by them and commissioned by Charles II of the Battle of Solebay. It looked glorious and made you realise the richness of tapestry. Standing in front of it you felt like you were in the battle. I must admit as art they were exquisite but a bit repetitive however the most interesting aspect was the light it shone on studio practice at the time. The artists kept a large collection of drawings which they used to build they compositions. These included detailed studies of particular ships. In the last sect...

Interesting live online discussion from the Queen’s House on the 17th century marine artists the Van de Veldes. This was a live talk from the house delivered from the house via Facebook and the quality wasn’t the best. There was a panel of five speakers but I didn’t catch their names. A bit further in the quality improved plus my ear became attuned but I was sorry to miss this detail. They discussed conservation work they have been doing for an exhibition next year to mark 350 years since Charles II brought this father and son to Britain and gave them a studio at the Queen’s House. I was fascinated by the discussion of the Solebay tapestry and can’t wait to see it on display. They also talked about why Charles brought them from the Netherlands and the effect their presence had on later artists including Turner. Definitely an exhibition to look out for next year.