Catalogue entry no. 91b by Susan Anderson:
Willem van de Velde II (the Younger) produced paintings and drawings of seascapes and other maritime themes, often in the service of his father, Willem van de Velde I (the Elder, 1611–1693), who is best known for his highly detailed and directly observed views of battles at sea. A presumed apprenticeship with Simon de Vlieger around 1650 in Weesp, however, reinforced in the younger Willem a more picturesque approach to marine and naval scenes, as seen in the present sheets. Van de Velde the Younger married twice, first to Pieternella le Maire of Weesp in Amsterdam in 1652—strengthening the possibility of an apprenticeship to De Vlieger—and again to Magdalena Walraven in Amsterdam in 1666. Around that time, Willem the Younger appears to have begun drawing ships from shore, particularly those that returned victorious from the Four Days’ Battle of the Second Anglo–Dutch War. Otherwise, he appears to have been the “studio man,” while Van de Velde the Elder traveled. He moved with his father to Greenwich during the winter of 1672–73 and resided there until his death in 1707, with occasional trips back to Holland. His swift inheritance of his father’s clientele after his death in 1693 implies that the Younger was well acquainted with the nautical set, and his travel to the Mediterranean in the following year further indicates his familiarity with seafaring. But, unlike his father’s case, no drawings can securely place the Younger at sea during battle.
These two drawings (1965.215, 1965.216) belong to a group of six sheets by Van de Velde the Younger depicting Dutch warships at anchor in a light breeze, all in brown ink and gray wash and measuring approximately 101 × 217 mm. As a group, they depict the three flagships of one squadron: the common Dutch flag at the foremast indicates the admiral, at the mainmast the vice admiral, and at the mizzen the rear admiral (schout-bij-nacht). The Dutch flag also appears intermittently on smaller kaags —a type of sprit-rigged sailboat with a straight raking stem at the bow—and rowboats that pull toward the various war-ships, suggesting the arrival of ranking officials. One of the Harvard sheets, Seascape with Boats, depicts the rear admiral seen from the stern and approached by a kaag and two rowboats, with the admiral and vice admiral in the right background and an unidentified ship in the left background. The other Harvard sheet, Two Dutch Warships, depicts the admiral and vice admiral seen from the bow and approached by three rowboats. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, are two other sheets: one depicting a salute between a warship and a kaag (Fig. 1), and the other the admiral and the vice admiral from the bow (Fig. 2). The remaining two are very close to our first drawing here, depicting the rear admiral approached by two kaags and three rowboats—the first with the warship seen from starboard, with an unidentified ship at the left background, and the second with the rear admiral seen from port, with the remainder of the squadron in the background.
Previous scholarship suggested a date of 1686 for these works—therefore that they would have been drawn during a visit to Amsterdam—although more thorough stylistic comparison does not bear this out. Unlike the energetically rapid pen work of Van de Velde the Younger’s British period, these sheets have the controlled surety of hand in their abbreviated linear approach more characteristic of drawings dated by M. S. Robinson to around 1665. Also, though the artist painted scenes of calm and light breezes throughout his career, the greatest concentration of such works appears during the 1660s. Given the similarities between the ships and their relative positions within this group, it is tempting to conclude that Van de Velde drew them from observation while seated onshore. If the dating based on stylistic grounds is correct, these warships may be among those that fought in the Second Anglo–Dutch War (March 4, 1665–July 31, 1667). Robinson described one drawing by Van de Velde the Younger, formerly in the Ingram Collection, as inscribed with the location of Den Helder, and another as having to do with the Battle of Lowestoft, both dated 1665. Before the war, the Dutch fleet gathered more southward in 1664, in the protected inlet known as the Goeree roadstead, between Goederede and Hellevoetsluis. This area would become the major port of the naval fleet, which allowed for the replenishment of supplies and undisturbed preparations for battle—the perfect spot to study the calmer aspects of seafaring life. The lack of detail in the decorative aspects of the sterns, however, prevents their identification as specific vessels. Furthermore, their tidy compositions and picturesque depictions of waves and clouds suggest an aesthetic, rather than documentary, goal—although one based upon intimate knowledge of naval procedures.
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