Willem van de Velde the Elder Leiden 1611 - 1693 London

A dating has been suggested of around 1664, a year in which the Elder van de Velde spent much time at sea with the Dutch Fleet, making numerous rapidly executed drawings such as this, in which he recorded his observations.  Most of Willem the Younger's drawings of this time consist of detailed studies or portraits of individual ships, often worked up from the base of a counterproof of one of his father's drawings (see lot 148). As described in the note to lot 143, it seems the Elder van de Velde frequently took sketches made at sea and added extra sheets of paper at the top or sides, to make the compositions more balanced and complete, probably with a view to selling the drawings as independent works of art.