Study sheet_ Ships 

Curator: Here we have Abraham Storck the Elder’s "Study Sheet: Ships", a pencil on paper drawing held here at the Städel Museum. It doesn't seem to be dated, so it's hard to say when it was done. Editor: My first impression is one of unfinished potential; a fleet captured in the fragile medium of graphite. The hazy shapes feel somewhat melancholic. Curator: Storck was known for his marine paintings during the Baroque period. What's compelling here is the evident study of form—how the artist is grappling with capturing the complexities of these vessels. Note the lines of the rigging, and the ways the sails fill with a nonexistent wind. Editor: It strikes me that the billowing sails also evoke a sense of the era's maritime expansionism. Were these merchant ships or warships, vectors of trade or violence, or perhaps both? Curator: Indeed. I see the suggestion of structure and design—how line creates spatial depth. The composition directs your eye from the ships at the front to the slightly less-defined vessels farther out. Look closely at how the lines themselves convey the idea of three-dimensionality on a flat surface. Editor: Absolutely. We are seeing what seems like a study of both mercantilism and colonialism through an early modern lens. Ships were not just neutral objects but extensions of empires, reshaping trade and geopolitical landscapes. These sketches are embedded with that meaning. Curator: I appreciate how the artist chose to represent maritime activity with such subtle lines on humble paper rather than using oils to showcase luxury or grandeur, typical of Baroque maritime painting. It reveals his process. Editor: I find it powerful, this suggestion of both grand historical forces and fleeting ephemerality rendered in delicate pencil strokes. Curator: Agreed, an unfinished and revealing artifact. Editor: It allows one to see the sea not just as the center of the earth but of its empires too.