Vincent Van Gogh' boats

[ahp]

Two days ago we went to the Metropolitan Museaum of Art in NYC. They were showing a special Van Gogh exhibit.

At one time in Van Gogh's brief career he went to the Mediteranian and made a number of sketches and paintings of small sailing boats, apparently work boats. They appeared to be flat bottomed, doubled ended with very raking stem and sternposts, sort of double ended dories. From what I could see from a painting showing them on the beach, they had a lot of rocker. No leeboard, centerboard or keel was evident.

The rig was a single lateen sail, loose footed, with the yard fished together from two pieces.

The paintings of these craft under sail showed only one person, and they seemed to be about 18 to 20 feet long. Steering seemed to be by means of a side rudder. Does anyone know any more about these craft?

[Thorne]

Did you bring home a catalog with any of the titles for these paintings? There are a lot of online resources that may have copies of these paintings.

I was under the impression that dories were more northern European, but I'm no expert. There were a stunning number of both boat and sail designs in use, including many not much seen today -- like the very popular Dutch sprit or spri design using a huge sprit boom running from the base of the mast.

Here's a painting showing some of those designs. Note the cog on the left with two squaresails and a lateen or lugsail -- the center squaresail is probably 5x taller than it is wide.

http://www.luckhardt.com/warships.jpg

[ 11-26-2005, 07:38 PM: Message edited by: Thorne ]

[Todd Bradshaw]

You mean these?

http://www.postertogo.com/cgi-bin/p2g/imageL.pl?code=vg0022&category=Van_Gogh

I have the original hanging on my dining room wall...oh, wait... I guess it must be a print.... :D

[Sea Frog]

From this site (http://membres.lycos.fr/saintesmaries/saintesmaries/Editer/Histoire%20ancienne%20des%20Saintes/histoire.htm)

I could learn such a boat type was called a béto and had indeed a flat bottom.
The compound gaff is typically mediterranean and could be found on much bigger ships like galleys or chebaccos.
The name AMITIE means friendship.
The village where the barks were painted is named the Saintes-Maries de la Mer and is situated in Camargue. :D

http://www.vangoghreproductions.com/paintings/1888-23-1.jpg

[ 11-27-2005, 08:49 AM: Message edited by: Sea Frog ]

[ahp]

Todd Bradshaw, that is exactly what I mean. Thre were a number of pictures of these sailing as well.

[Tristan]

Originally posted by Thorne:
[qb]

There were a stunning number of both boat and sail designs in use, including many not much seen today -- like the very popular Dutch sprit or spri design using a huge sprit boom running from the base of the mast.

Classic example, the Thames Barge. As for flat bottomed boats, a la dories, a number of flat bottomed boats probably developed independently for use off beaches.

[ 11-26-2005, 07:49 PM: Message edited by: Tristan ]

[Sea Frog]

To think Camargue will pabbly be permanently flooded by the end of the Century just as Normandy, and that won't owe anything to bull's fart!