WILLEM VAN DE VELDE THE YOUNGER AND STUDIO | AN ENGLISH YACHT IN A GALE FORCE WIND

Miss Winchester;

By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 1 March 1967, lot 187, for £680 to Colonel Preston;

With Nijstad Antiquairs, London and The Hague, June 1967 (when advertised in Weltkunst, 15 June 1967);

With Rupert Preston Gallery, London, 1973 (when advertised in Country Life, 25 January 1973);

From whom acquired by The Earl of Chichester;

Thence by descent until anonymously sold ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Sotheby's, 12 December 2002, lot 165, where acquired.

M.S. Robinson, The paintings of the Willem van de Veldes, London 1990, vol. II, p. 1042, cat. no. 246 (3) (as 'painted partly by the Younger').

Robinson dates this picture to circa 1690, late in Van de Velde's career. Although the yacht is not identified, Robinson suggests that it may be related to a voyage made by Charles II to Portsmouth, to attend the launch of the Royal James in 1675.

A slightly smaller version of this work, with traces of a signature, and which also includes studio participation, is in a private collection, New York.¹ An upright painting that depicts the right-hand side of the present work, with the ship at far left also brought into the background, was recorded in a private collection, New York, in 1979.² Robinson lists that work as the prototype from which the other versions may have derived, including one said to be signed by the young Peter Monamy.³

¹ See Robinson 1990, pp. 1041-42, cat. no. 246 (2).

² See Robinson 1990, p. 1041, cat. no. 246 (1), reproduced.

³ See Robinson 1990, p. 1042, cat. no. 246 (4).