A Rocky Coastal Landscape with Men-of-War flying the British Flag and Figures in the Foreground

ADRIAEN VAN DIEST

1655-1704

Dutch School

A Rocky Coastal Landscape with Men-of-War flying the British Flag and Figures in the Foreground

Oil on Canvas, signed

100 x 124 cms 

39 1/4 x 48 3/4 inches 

Born in The Hague in 1655, Adriaen van Diest was the son and pupil of the well-known marine painter Willem van Diest. Like his father, he mainly painted seascapes but was also known to have produced some landscapes, animal pictures and a number of engravings.

In 1672, King Charles II invited Dutch craftsmen and artists to England where there was a growing market for paintings, especially portraits and marines. Therefore, It is not surprising that by 1673 van Diest emigrated to England along with a number of other Dutch artists including the important van de Velde family.

It seems highly likely that van Diest went directly to the van de Velde studio, which specialized in marine painting. Willem the Younger was van Diest's master and it was van Diest's copies of Willem's work which are the truest and most accurate in depicting his master's style.Van Diest was known to have worked in Bath and amongst his patrons there were the Duke of Granville and the Earl of Bath. Longleat house still contains a number of the artists works.

Van Diest was working on a series of engravings of his drawings which he never finished as he died before their completion in 1704.

Museums where examples of the artists work can be found include Augsburg, Brunswick, and London (The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and Hampton Court).