Old Master Drawings

/

Lot 143
  • 143

Willem van de Velde the Elder Leiden 1611 - 1693 London

bidding is closed

Description

  • Willem van de Velde the Elder
  • the battle of scheveningen (ter heyde), 10 august 1653: the meeting of the squadrons of admiral tromp and vice-admiral witte de with

  • Inscribed by the artist, left to right :
    - de faem slaende …
    - de harder backer zijnd(e)/visad van witte
    - twapen van de prins
    - visad de widt verlaet voorste vande/ schepen uyt Tessel genaemt grueningen/sij ware(n) 28 en 28 int getal zijnde het cekours
    - de bijeenkomste vanden visadmirael de witt en den/admirael tromp den 9 augustij ontrent…drie uuren/na de middag op den saterdag den 10 augustus 1653 alwaer den ouden/heer tromp doot blijft
    - jan everts visad wapen (van) zeelant
    and verso: de bijeenkomst van admirael tromp/en de witte visadmir(ael)

  • black chalk and grey wash, within brown ink framing lines, on six joined sheets of paper

Catalogue Note

In this highly detailed and very well preserved drawing, Van de Velde records one of the key moments in the long history of Anglo-Dutch maritime conflict.  For much of the third quarter of the 17th century, the English and Dutch fleets were constantly battling or sparring with each other, seeking to establish supremacy over the all-important maritime trade routes on which both their nations’ economies relied.  The battle of Scheveningen on 10 August 1653 was extremely important in this struggle for mastery of the seas.  Willem van de Velde actually witnessed the battle at first hand, making a number of drawings which together record in considerable detail the appearance and actions of the English and Dutch fleets during the prelude to and course of the battle (see M.S. Robinson, The Willem van de Velde Drawings in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum Rotterdam, Rotterdam 1979, vol. I, pp. 19-21; vol. II, pls. 8-25; idem, Van de Velde Drawings. A Catalogue of Drawings in the National Maritime Museum made by the Elder and the Younger Willem van de Velde, Cambridge 1973, vol. I, pp. 34-35, pls. 4-5; Rijksprentenkabinet Amsterdam : inv. Nrs 00.400-402 and 00.397-399).

After the battle off Nieuwpoort in June 1653, the English blockaded the coast of Holland and Zeeland, rendering both fishing and overseas trade impossible for the Dutch Republic.  A new Dutch battle fleet was therefore assembled with the utmost speed, and on 6 August it set to sea, with 83 ships under the command of Admiral Maarten Tromp.  This was, however, still not a substantial enough force to take on the English, whose fleet numbered 120 ships, and Tromp needed to join forces with the squadron of Vice-Admiral Witte de With, who was trapped by the English fleet in port at Texel, with 28 ships and four fire-ships.  With a cunning manoeuvre, Tromp succeeded, however, in luring the English away from Texel, allowing Witte de With’s squadron to leave the harbour, and in the afternoon of 9 August they joined up with the main fleet. 

As Van de Velde noted on the verso, the present sheet records this moment when Witte de With’s squadron was united with the fleet of Admiral Tromp.  In the foreground of the composition sail de With’s ships de Faam, de Harder (= de Herder, under Captain Backer) and de Prins te Paard, amongst others, while in the background is Tromp’s assembled fleet. The battleship to the very front is de Grueningen (Groningen), the largest of the ships that had been anchored at Texel, onto which de With himself embarked to lead his squadron to sea.  Underneath this ship, van de Velde noted that de With’s squadron consisted of 28 ships, and constituted het cekours, in other words the reinforcements that Tromp needed in order to be able to attack the English.  Behind this sails the squadron of Commander Evertsen under his flagship, het Wapen van Zeeland. Clouds of smoke are visible by the bow of de Groningen: the ship is firing a salute.

In the right foreground is a small galjoot, without doubt the boat from which Van de Velde himself witnessed and recorded the events. Typically, the artist made rapid chalk sketches on the spot, and then in the studio he rearranged and assembled the compositions, with much cutting and pasting of the sketch sheets, after which he worked them up with grey wash, creating more complete and finished compositions such as this.  It is known that he sold not only his paintings but also his drawings, and it is probable that a drawing such as this would have been considered a finished work in its own right, a theory supported by the fact that the artist added a strip of paper all along the top edge, the effect of which is to reinforce the compositional harmony and sense of depth in the drawing (see also lot 145).

As Van de Velde noted in his inscription at the top of the sheet, Admiral Tromp himself was killed by a musket ball early in the battle.  The Dutch lost not only their commander, but also the battle, but the losses suffered by the English were nonetheless so severe that the blockade was effectively broken, allowing overseas trade to resume.