The 16 square puzzle using the fine painting by Dutch artist Willem Van de Velde II. When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 25 square puzzle with the same image. You can go there directly by clicking the red square.

The 25 square puzzle using the fine painting by Dutch artist Willem Van de Velde II. When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 36 square puzzle with the same image. You can go there directly by clicking the red square.

The 36 square puzzle using the fine painting by Dutch artist Willem Van de Velde II. When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 49 square puzzle with the same image. You can go there directly by clicking the red square.

The 49 square puzzle using using the fine painting by Dutch artist Willem Van de Velde II. When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 64 square puzzle with the same image. To go there directly, click the red square.

The 64 square puzzle using using the fine painting by Dutch artist Willem Van de Velde II. This puzzle is getting harder. Congratulations if you succeed. The applet permits up to a ten square puzzle. If there is any interest in my listing a puzzle of greater difficulty, drop me a line and I'll add it in. Information about the artist can be found below.

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The image is just a portion of "The Gust", a magnificent marine painting by Dutch artist Willem Van de Velde II (1633-1707), painted c. 1680. You may see the splendid original full image here on the superb Rijksmuseum site. The work was painted in England and is an oil on canvas of 77 x 63.5 cm in size. More of the artists's work can be seen here but the images available through the links on those pages are generally not of the size or quality of those that appear on the Rijksmuseum site (there is only however one image on the Rijksmuseum site by this particular artist). More can be seen here. While this site will never claim to be a true "fine arts" site, my hope is that the site may stimulate an interest in fine art in its visitors. I am puzzled therefore why other museums which show generally small and poor quality images of works of worldwide interest, generally liberally referenced to matters of copyright, do not approach the subject as does the Rijksmuseum. Please do look for yourself at the Rijksmuseum image (link above). It is splendid. I did try to reduce the size of the image for use on this page to permit the boat in the left of the original to show on screen and also the dramatic sky in the top of the work. But I lost so much detail in the rigging that I gave up. Better to show a part of the image in its full glory than more of it in poor quality.

I was not, in fact, able to find out very much about the artist and will have to research elsewhere. The artist is considered to be the most renowned marine artist of his day and came from an established family of artists. He was born on December 18, 1633 in Leiden, a small Dutch town north and east of The Hague, the oldest son of Willem Van de Velde the Elder (c. 1611-1693). Willem Van de Velde the Elder was a noted artist in his own right who also specialised in marine painting; his father was the son of a naval captain, his brother was a skipper of merchant vessels, and he himself spent part of his youth as a sailor before devoting himself to the drawing and painting of ships. The family had moved to Amsterdam by 1636 and it is believed that the artist was a pupil of Simon de Vlieger (c. 1600-1653) (One of that artist's works). Both father and son could reasonably be described as the "war photographers", if you will, of their day. In 1672/3, father and son moved, for reasons unknown, to London, England, where they worked for Charles II and the Duke of York. They lived in Greenwich and later Westminster and much of the artist's work was produced in England. The artist was appointed a painter to the English court in 1677. The fine rendering of detail and texture, the balanced composition, the brilliant use of light, all so evident in this painting, are his hallmarks. One site that I visited suggested that his work, today, ranges in value from US $180,000 to US $2.8 million. The artist died in 1707 but the exact date eludes me. He was however buried in London on April 11, 1677 in St. James, Piccadilly.

You may like to look at the image portion I have used without the distraction of the puzzle. So here it is.

This page is really not intended to stray too far from its subject matter. But you really should view the "pen painting" of the Battle of Terheide, the work of Willem Van de Velde the Elder. The naval battle took place between the Dutch and the English on August 10, 1653 with much loss of life but really no victor. The artist was at the scene, indeed he pictured himself in the painting ~ in the foreground boat to the left of the painting, sitting down with a drawing board on his knee. The work, itself, was painted in 1657. Pen painting is a 17th century technique that is explained on the Rijksmuseum site. An enlargement on that site clearly shows the artist busy at work.

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The java applet that runs the puzzle is courtesy of Axel Fontaine, who lives just south of the city of Brussels in Belgium. Axel invited free use of his fine applet which you can, I hope, download here. Axel, we thank you!