In the painting Ships in a Storm, the emphasis is not so much on the ships as on the elements. Jan Porcellis is considered one of the pioneers of marine painting. His work was decisive for the development of this genre in the 17th century. In contrast to his predecessors, who opted for colourful seascapes full of anecdotal details, Porcellis brought consistency to his paintings and made the weather visible with his clouds and dramatic lighting effects. With subtle shades of brown and grey, he succeeds in depicting the forces of nature.

Jan Porcellis was of Flemish Spanish origins and let a restless life. He went from the Spanish- Netherlands to Rotterdam and became a pupil of H.C. Vroom. In 1605 he married H.C. Vroom’s daughter. Afterwards Porcellis was working in London and Middelburg. He was driven back to Antwerp by adverse circumstances where he became in 1617 Master of the Antwerp Guild. He then went to Haarlem and Amsterdam before finally settling in Soutermonde, near Leyden, were he died in 1632. His best known pupils were his son, Julius and Simon de Vlieger.

His significance only becomes fully apparent when one reviews the long line of artists who are indebted to him. They include the great masters of the marine, such as Simon de Vlieger, Jan van de Capelle, Willem van de Velde the Younger, Ludolf Bakhuysen and Jan van Goyen, who in turn inspired the artists of the late eighteen and early nineteenth centuries. Van Hoogstraten called Jan Porcellis the ”Raphael of marine painting”.