Jan Porcellis

Jan Porcellis (1580/84 Ghent – 29 January 1632 Zoeterwoude) was a Dutch marine artist in the seventeenth century. His works initiated a "decisive transition from early realism to the tonal phase", fostering a new style and subject in marine painting by focusing on overcast skies and rough waters, a radical break from maritime art's previous focus on the grandeur of ships in historical settings. This style of greater simplicity surrounding maritime art, with the majority of the canvas displaying sea and sky, set the grounds for later works in this genre.