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Thunderstorm

Thunderstorm
 1649

Medium
oil on wood panel
Measurements
47.8 × 64.9 cm
Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.c.r.: HVS (monogram) WANEVELT. FA / R 1649
Accession Number
2005.245
Department
International Painting
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased through the NGV Foundation with the assistance of the proceeds of the Fundraising Dinner at NGV International, 2005
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Gallery location
Rembrandt Cabinet
Level 2, NGV International
About this work

Herman van Swanevelt travelled to Rome in the mid to late 1620s, where he met with great success, receiving several commissions from the Barberini family and the Vatican, among others. Swanevelt’s style developed into an intriguing amalgam of well-observed naturalism in the Dutch manner and Italian classicism. This is especially evident in his highly idealised compositions and use of golden light. The widely travelled Swanevelt influenced an international field of painters, including the great landscape artist Claude Lorrain. In this painting of an impending storm, the family hurrying with a donkey may allude to the biblical story of the Holy Family seeking refuge in Bethlehem.

Subjects (general)
Human Figures Landscapes Nature
Subjects (specific)
rain roads storms thunder-storms travellers (people by activity) trees weather wind (weather phenomena)
Provenance
Richter collection, Dresden, prior to 1953 collection appropriated by the German Democratic Government (GDR), 1953 collection of the Dresden Gemaldegalerie, 1953, inv no. 53/139 3522 restituted to Rudolf Erich Richter, 2002 at auction Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2004, no. 119 purchased by Woolhara Trading Co. (dealer), 2004 from where acquired by the NGV, 2005.

Frame

Herman van Swanevelt’s painting Thunderstorm (previously known as Italian landscape on a windy day) dated to 1649, was purchased in 2005.
The work is on an oak panel comprised of two horizontal planks joined through the centre.
The painting came into the collection in a recently manufactured ogee shaped frame with gilded and ornamented inner and outer edges. (above)
Swanevelt spent time in both Italy and France leaving a number of possibilities for the style of frame for this painting.
A frame with Italian origins was preferred for the painting, to add variation into the framing of this part of the collection.
A late sixteenth early seventeenth century Piedmont frame was sourced from Italy.
The frame is a reverse profile bolection form with gilded pastiglia decoration.
The frame was purchased and fitted to the painting in October 2016. (top)

Framemaker
Unknown - 17th century
Date
late C16th. earlyC17th.
Materials

timber with gilded pastiglia decoration.