Shipwreck off a Rocky Coast
Also titled Schipbreuk op een rotsachtige kust
Adam Willaerts (London, 1577–1664)
1614
- Medium
- panel, oil paint (paint)
- Classification
- painting
- Dimensions
- support: height 64.5 cm x width 85.2 cm (oval)
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
About this work
Those who went to sea played roulette with their lives. The wooden ships were small and fragile, and the very real dangers were exaggerated with horror stories of hideous creatures living in the unfathomable depths. Willaerts created an image of every seaman’s worst nightmare. One ship has been dashed on the rocks, and the other two are heeling over. The survivors at centre are threatened by a monstrous fish.
