Walter Armstrong

“ The charm of Van de Velde lies in his excellent sense of composition, in his fine drawing, in his lightness of hand and transparency of colour, and, in his best pictures, in his wonderful sense of atmosphere and aerial perspective. His lightness of hand and transparency often desert him in his pictures of storms, which are apt to be opaque and inky, and are therefore less prized than his calms. ”

“ VAN DE VELDE, WILLEM (1610–1693) , painter, born at Leyden in 1610, was in boyhood a sailor, but before he was twenty he had already won a certain reputation as a painter of marine subjects. These he executed sometimes in bistre, heightened with white, sometimes in oil, in black and white. His skill won him the patronage of the Dutch states, who put at his disposal a small vessel, in which he could follow the fleets, and even come to very close quarters, during the numerous actions with the English. ”

“ VERNON, ROBERT (1774–1849) , patron of art, born in 1774, was of humble origin, and became, through his own exertions, a jobmaster, posting contractor, and dealer in horses in London in a very large way. He amassed a large fortune as contractor for the supply of horses to the British armies during the wars with Napoleon. ”