A Storm Behind the Isle of Wight

About the Artwork

The scene depicts a family's distress upon finding that one of its members has drowned off the rocky shore of the Isle of Wight during a storm. A ship sinks in the wild sea, amid swirling dark clouds and lightning flashes. The artist had visited the Isle of Wight in 1791. Ibbetson began his career by copying Dutch landscape paintings for dealers. He is known to have produced copies and fakes in the style of other masters as well.

Inscriptions

Signed lower left: "Julius Ibbetson / [...] / 179[...]"

Exhibition history

Nature and Natural Phenomena in Art of the Eighteenth Century. The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY (organizer) (February 20-March 15, 1964). Bicentenary Exhibition, 1768-1968. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (December 14, 1968-March 2, 1969).

Quick Overview

Artist: Julius Caesar Ibbetson (British, 1759–1817)
Date: c.179(?)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Framed: 70 x 85.5 x 5.5 cm (27 9/16 x 33 11/16 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 50.8 x 67.6 cm (20 x 26 5/8 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: Bequest of Henry W. Kent
Accession no.: 1948.461

Provenance

Henry W. Kent.; after his death, held in trust by the estate. Estate of Henry W. Kent, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art. 1948.

More by Julius Caesar Ibbetson in museum collections

View of London with St. Paul’s in the distance: woman and children with a baby carriage
Julius Caesar Ibbetson
1787 · Drawing
Museum collection · via the Metropolitan Museum of ArtAT-00024402
View of London with St. Paul’s in the distance: a family pausing on a road
Julius Caesar Ibbetson
1787 · Drawing
Museum collection · via the Metropolitan Museum of ArtAT-00024403

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.