Willem van de Velde the Elder

Eugene Rodrigues (L.897)

One or two small thin spots, towards right. A little very light wrinkling at corners, and slight surface dirt, but overall condition extremely good and fresh. Sold in a modern frame.
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Detailed drawings such as this of individual ships form a significant part of the work of Willem van de Velde the Elder, and were also made in some numbers by his son. The artist seems to have made these "ship portraits" whenever the opportunity presented itself, so that he had an accurate record of the appearance of any ships that he wanted to include in his larger drawings and paintings of naval battles and other historical scenes.

Given how precise and specific the subjects of these compositions were – often showing a particular, pivotal moment in a battle, or the arrival of a certain fleet at an identified port – it was crucial that they should accurately record the appearance of the vessels that were actually there. So, Van de Velde spent many long hours in the dockyards of Holland, and later England, drawing these ships in every detail, recording everything from the numbers of cannons and portholes to the exact forms of the stern lanterns and decorated, carved window surrounds. To judge by other contemporary records, Van de Velde's drawings seem always to have been of astonishing accuracy.

These drawings were then used as the basis for any images of the ships in question that were required for paintings or larger drawings. In some cases, if the image needed to be reversed, Van de Velde made a counterproof of his original drawing, and strengthened any lost details, presumably by comparison with the original drawing. There were several exceptional examples of ship portraits by Van de Velde in the remarkable group of drawings by the artist recently sold from the estate of John Pierpont Morgan 2^nd,¹ and many more are at Greenwich, Rotterdam and other museums.²

This superbly preserved ship portrait by Van de Velde is unusually animated: careful examination reveals the presence of a large number of figures, scurrying up ladders and rushing around the decks, all of which makes the drawing rather less of a scientific illustration than some of the artist's other drawings of this type. It is previously undocumented, and although drawings of ships by the artist can hardly be said to be rare, its quality and condition are both so exceptional that few if any similar sheets have been seen on the market in recent times. 

We are most grateful to Professor Dr. Jan Kelch for identifying the type of ship depicted, and for informing us that the circular port holes seen on this man-of-war were particularly favoured by the English, and were only a feature of ship building from circa 1660-65 onwards, providing a terminus post quem for the drawing.

It is somewhat surprising to find the Rodrigues mark on this drawing, as most of the sheets in that illustrious collection were early German and Netherlandish works; in terms, though, of its quality, this exceptional example of Van de Velde's draughtsmanship would have been entirely at home in that context.

1.  Sold, New York, Sotheby's, 25 January 2006, lots 7-19
2.  The extensive Greenwich and Rotterdam holdings of drawings by the Van de Veldes have all been catalogued by Michael S. Robinson: see A Catalogue of Drawings in the National Maritime Museum made by the Elder and the Younger Willem van de Velde, vol. I, Cambridge 1958, vol. II, Cambridge 1974, and The Willem van de Velde drawings in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum Rotterdam, 3 vols., Cambridge 1979