Notes

The panorama-like sheet shows numerous ships grouped around an imposing Man-o-War ship of the line. Van de Velde must have observed such scenes, but the present drawing is structured as a pictorial composition. The delicate preliminary sketch is elaborated with grenat ease using a brush. Huge flags flapping in the wind identify the ships as Dutch. The sails are also billowed by the wind, while the sea appears surprisingly calm. Above, the sky remains completely clear.

Willem van de Velde came from one of the greatest seventeenth century families of Dutch masters; his father Willem van de Velde I (1611 – 1693) was a first rate draughtsman of marines in service of the Dutch navy whose love of the sea and ships was inherited by his youngest son. The important pastoral landscapist Adriaen van de Velde (1636-1672) was Willem II’s younger brother. At the age of 15, Van de Velde II apprenticed with Simon de Vlieger, who specialized in painting atmospheric seascapes.

The Van de Veldes ran a successful studio together, which was due to a number of factors. Van de Velde the Elder was a brave man who attended several sea battles not without danger to himself. He recorded the course of the battle on long strips of paper with a graphite marker.

He showed the signed documentation to his clients so that they could better understand the course of the naval battles. The drawings were then converted into pen paintings and oil paintings in the studio.

The success of the two Willems was also due to a good network of relations and customers, who even brought their work to the influential de’Medici family in Florence.

During the Disaster Year in the Netherlands in 1672, the art market collapsed. The Van de Veldes left for England, where they were welcomed at the English court of King Charles II. The Van de Veldes built up a cordial relationship with both Charles II and his successor James II. The Stuarts gave father and son Van de Velde an annual allowance of 100 pounds each and a palatial studio in the Queen’s House in Greenwich. This is also where the commission for the large tapestries arose, of which the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam (Scheepvaartsmuseum) purchased two works.

However, when Dutch stadtholder William III and his wife Mary Stuart came to the English throne during the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Van de Veldes lost their royal patron. They focused entirely on the free market again. Father and son would continue to work together until the death of Willem van de Velde the Elder in 1693.

Willem II was a draughtsman throughout his career and he continuously executed highly detailed renderings of ships and scenes as studies for his paintings.

Most of Van de Velde’s finest works represent views off the coast of Holland, with Dutch shipping. His best productions are delicate, spirited and finished in handling, and correct in the drawing of the vessels and their rigging. The numerous figures are tellingly introduced, and the artist is successful in his renderings of sea, whether in calm or storm. The ships are portrayed with almost photographic accuracy, and are the most precise guides available to the appearance of 17th-century ships.

Substantial collections of Van de Velde’s paintings and drawings are held in museums worldwide such as the National Gallery, National Maritime Museum and the Wallace Collection, all in London; the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC to name a few.