DOI issue:
Nr. 1-4
DOI article:Bentkowska-Kafel, Anna: Navigatio Vitae: elements of Emblematic Symbolism in 17th century Dutch seascapes
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18898#0033
The Mondo simbolico, just as other cmblematic books, reflect the timeless metaphor of navi-
gatio vitae tliat treats tlie sea as the symbol of man's birth, life and death, and the ship on the
one hand as an allusion to the uncertainty of the human condition exposed to constant storms
and dangers, and on the other, as the only sheltcr to be taken on the rough sea. In Holland, where
the sea was the essence of life and the source of prosperity for most of the citizens, it also became
the most frequent subject in landscape painting. The most popular representations contained
an image of a ship struggling against billows and finally wrecked on a traecherous rock and
sinking, with the shipwreckcd trying to save their lives. The wind is the main hero, evasive
in itself and visualised through the effects it brought. Dutch painters, who excelled in depicting
this phenomenon in the whole Wealth of its representations5, found an unlimited scope for revea-
ling their talents in seascapes. This is particularly evident when the wind ceases to be favourable
and becomes a stormwind that tears the sails, pushes the ship off course and drives her on to
the rocks. Then the wind est symbolum irae Dei and also that of meditationis de morte6. What
else remains trierę for sailors except thoughts of death at moments as tragic as those shown in
the paintings: Simon de Vlieger's Storm at a Rocky Shore (Dresden, Gcmaldegalerie), Adam Wil-
laersts's Skipwreck during a Storm of 1656 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) where the lighting Cro-
ssing the sky may also be a symbol of ira Dei, or Jan Peetcrs's Seascape (Vienna, Kunsthistori-
sches Museum) where the light of the lighthouse leaves the sailors a glimpse of hope. There is
hope for salvation even when the sinking ship ceases to be a sheltcr, when people cling to masts
and floating pieces of wood that are literally the sheet anchor.
Both in Pieter Sybrantsz ITs painting Ships during a Storm of 1635 (Amsterdam, the Willem
Russel collection) and in the above-mentioned seascapes by Vlieger and Peeters, the dark cloudy
5. Cf. M. Rostworowski, ,,Le vent dans le paysage hollandais du XVIe siecle" in: Bulletin du Musće National de Varsovie,
XIV, 1973, p. 13.
6: F. Picinclli, Mondo Simbolico, lib. II, capo XVIII: Vento, Nos. 311, 319; I quote in the Ianguages of the first editioń (La-
tino-Italian ve^sion) aftcr the Milan edition of 1653.
2. Simon de Vlieger, Sea-Storntf Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum (after L. J. Boi, Die hottandische
Marinemalereiidęs 17i .JdkrhundeMs, Braunschweig, 1973) ..;
27
gatio vitae tliat treats tlie sea as the symbol of man's birth, life and death, and the ship on the
one hand as an allusion to the uncertainty of the human condition exposed to constant storms
and dangers, and on the other, as the only sheltcr to be taken on the rough sea. In Holland, where
the sea was the essence of life and the source of prosperity for most of the citizens, it also became
the most frequent subject in landscape painting. The most popular representations contained
an image of a ship struggling against billows and finally wrecked on a traecherous rock and
sinking, with the shipwreckcd trying to save their lives. The wind is the main hero, evasive
in itself and visualised through the effects it brought. Dutch painters, who excelled in depicting
this phenomenon in the whole Wealth of its representations5, found an unlimited scope for revea-
ling their talents in seascapes. This is particularly evident when the wind ceases to be favourable
and becomes a stormwind that tears the sails, pushes the ship off course and drives her on to
the rocks. Then the wind est symbolum irae Dei and also that of meditationis de morte6. What
else remains trierę for sailors except thoughts of death at moments as tragic as those shown in
the paintings: Simon de Vlieger's Storm at a Rocky Shore (Dresden, Gcmaldegalerie), Adam Wil-
laersts's Skipwreck during a Storm of 1656 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) where the lighting Cro-
ssing the sky may also be a symbol of ira Dei, or Jan Peetcrs's Seascape (Vienna, Kunsthistori-
sches Museum) where the light of the lighthouse leaves the sailors a glimpse of hope. There is
hope for salvation even when the sinking ship ceases to be a sheltcr, when people cling to masts
and floating pieces of wood that are literally the sheet anchor.
Both in Pieter Sybrantsz ITs painting Ships during a Storm of 1635 (Amsterdam, the Willem
Russel collection) and in the above-mentioned seascapes by Vlieger and Peeters, the dark cloudy
5. Cf. M. Rostworowski, ,,Le vent dans le paysage hollandais du XVIe siecle" in: Bulletin du Musće National de Varsovie,
XIV, 1973, p. 13.
6: F. Picinclli, Mondo Simbolico, lib. II, capo XVIII: Vento, Nos. 311, 319; I quote in the Ianguages of the first editioń (La-
tino-Italian ve^sion) aftcr the Milan edition of 1653.
2. Simon de Vlieger, Sea-Storntf Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum (after L. J. Boi, Die hottandische
Marinemalereiidęs 17i .JdkrhundeMs, Braunschweig, 1973) ..;
27