FRANCIS SWAINE (? 1725-Chelsea, 1782) ENGLISH SHIPS ON A ROUGH SEA Original canvas (cut at the bottom) Bears a label on the reverse attributed to Backhuysen Old restorations English ships on a stormy sea, original canvas (cut low) with restorations 52,5 x 101 CM - 20,6 x 39,7 IN. PROVENANCE Cowie Collection (according to an inscription on a label on the reverse of the stretcher) ; Christie's sale, 1951, n°115 (according to an inscription on a label on the reverse of the Van de Velde stretcher); Maritime Art sale, London, Christie's, 12 November 2014, no. 8 (Francis Swaine). Reproduced with variants from the painting by Willem van de Velde (canvas, 135 x 204) in the collection of the Earl of Wemyss and March in Gosford, East Lothian (see M. S. Robinson, Van de Velde, London, 1990, no. 255, reproduced, mentioned as signed and dated 1670).