Ludolf Bakhuizen

In 1672 the Dutch Republic faced invasion by land and sea at once, a crisis Dutch history still calls the disaster year. That same year the two Willem van de Veldes, father and son and the country's leading painters of ships, left Amsterdam to work for the English crown. Their departure opened a gap, and Ludolf Bakhuizen filled it.

Bakhuizen had arrived in Amsterdam from Emden, in East Frisia, as a merchant's clerk, and taught himself to draw ships in pen before he ever touched oils. He became the foremost Dutch marine painter of his generation, prized above all for rough weather.

He earned that reputation the hard way. During storms he would have himself rowed out into open water to watch how the waves broke and the light moved, then bring it back to the studio. His workshop became a stop for important visitors to Amsterdam, and Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, in the city to learn shipbuilding, is said to have sat with him for drawing lessons.