description

Willem Van de Velde (Leiden 1633 - London 1707)

An elegant threemaster, seen on her starboard, is sailing in a mild breeze. Sunlight emanates from the upper left illuminating the ship’s stern and leaving the hull in shadow, indicated with delicate hatching. The beholder sees the vessel from a small distance and from a low viewpoint, as if sitting in a sloop.

Provenance

Collection John MacGowan (?-1803), Edinburgh (Lugt 1496; his mark lower centre on recto)
Collection Cornelius ver Heyden de Lancey (1889-1984), Londen en Jersey (Lugt 2701a; his mark upper left on recto)
Collection E. Brouwer
Private collection, Switzerland

Detail Description

An elegant threemaster, seen on her starboard, is sailing in a mild breeze. Sunlight emanates from the upper left illuminating the ship’s stern and leaving the hull in shadow, indicated with delicate hatching. The beholder sees the vessel from a small distance and from a low viewpoint, as if sitting in a sloop.



Arguably, father and son Van de Velde were the most prolific draughtsmen of the Dutch Golden Age. Drawing to them was as natural as breathing and Pliny’s well-known motto ‘nulla dies sine linea’ (not a day without a line) applies to them in a literal sense. Van de Velde the Younger’s productivity can be explained by his singular talent of conjuring a truthful scene on the beach or at sea with just a few lines of his pencil or a dash or two with his brush. This drawing is another superb example. The subject, this time, is a single ship; a merchantman or man-of-war. Although the drawing is a rapid sketch, it still contains a wealth of detail. Drawings such as the present were made as preparation for paintings.



Willem van de Velde the Younger and his father and teacher Willem van de Velde the Elder are the most famous marine artists of the seventeenth century. Their depictions of shipping are artistic highpoints while many of these scenes represent events of massive importance such as episodes of heroic sea-battles and consequently have shaped the historical image of the Dutch Golden Age as well. Whereas Willem van de Velde the Younger is primarily known as a painter, both father and son produced a vast body of drawings. The greatest holding of van de Velde drawings is nowadays in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, while the second largest public collection is kept in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.



Shortly after Willem’s birth the family moved to Amsterdam. He initially trained with his father but was sent off to Weesp around 1648 to finish his education with Simon de Vlieger. In 1652 he was back in Amsterdam and married Petronella le Maine but divorced her only one year later. In 1666 he married his second wife Magdalena Walraven. By the closing of 1672 Willem and his father had left for England for good, settling in Greenwich, in the outskirts of London. At first they primarily worked for King Charles II, who provided them with lodgings in Greenwich and allowed them to use the Queen’s House as their studio, a handsome building designed by Inigo Jones and presently part of the Maritime Museum which houses so many outstanding works by the Van de Veldes. In 1674 a royal warrant stipulated that both artists were to receive an annual pension of one hundred Pounds while to were also to receive payment for every painting individually. From the outset, the Van de Veldes also worked for the king’s brother, the future James II, who continued patronizing them after his brother’s death in 1685. In 1691 the Van de Veldes settled in Westminster, London, where they remained until their deaths. They are buried alongside each other in the church of St James, Piccadilly. Willem the Younger had two sons, Willem III and Cornelis, who also became marine painters and continued to work in their father’s style. Van de Velde also had some English followers. Namely Peter Monamy and Robert Woodstock, who further contributed