Albert Lahde (1869 – 1940) Seascape With Sailing Ships In A Rough Sea, Oil On Canvas, 50 X 47.5

Albert Lahde
1869 – 1940

Seascape with Sailing Ships in a Rough Sea
oil on canvas, 50 x 47.5 cm
framed, total 61 x 54 cm
Signed lower left "A. Lahde"

A sky traversed by low, wind-laden clouds, a stormy sea with silvery reflections, and at the center of the scene a sailing fishing boat cleaving the waves with all its energy: this seascape by Albert Lahde is a successful and engaging example of the great Northern European marine landscape painting of the 19th-century tradition.

The composition is dominated by the powerful presence of the vessel in the foreground, its dark sails dramatically standing out against the moving sky. In the background, other sailing vessels complete the scene, lost in the luminous haze of the horizon. The light, filtered through the clouds, falls obliquely on the water, creating evocative contrasts between the white crests of the waves and the dark green of the rough sea.

The brushstrokes are loose, energetic, and in complete command of the atmosphere: here Lahde demonstrates his ability to capture not only the form, but also the movement and breath of the North Sea, with a chromatic sensitivity that recalls the great tradition of Dutch and German marine painting.

Albert Lahde (1869–1940) was a German painter specializing in seascapes and coastal views, active between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Trained in the tradition of the German Realist school, he devoted much of his production to the depiction of the North and Baltic Seas, with their changing atmospheres, bustling ports, and fleets of fishing vessels. His works, appreciated even during his lifetime, are now held in private collections throughout Europe.