Willem van der Velde the Younger

Acquired in London in the 1950s or 1960s by a private collector and in the same family collection until now.

M.S. Robinson, Van de Velde. A Catalogue of the Paintings of the Elder and Younger Willem van de Velde, London 1990, vol. II, pp. 974-75, no. 805, reproduced.

The catalogue illustration is representative. The canvas has an old relining and this seems to have flattened the paint surface somewhat and stretcher marks clearly visible. The dirty paint surface is secure and under a yellowed, thick, uneven varnish. To the naked eye old discoloured retouchings can be made out in the sky and in the darker tones throughout but when inspected under UV light the thick varnish impedes satisfactory inspection so older retouchings cannot be definitively made out. More recent retouchings can be made in the sky upper left and in the grey patch 6 by 10 cm upper left. However, it is clear that the painting is substantially abraded and has been extensively retouched in the abraded areas, though not in the highlights (for example in the higlights of the cloud upper right). Structurally the painting is in better condition, with no major damages. Offered in an elaborate carved and gilt wood frame with some losses and knocks.
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Robinson considers this painting to be the prime version of this composition, and in his preferred terminology, to have been painted substantially by the younger Van de Velde.  On stylistic grounds, dates it to circa 1685, a point lent credence by the form of the signature which Van de Velde only used after circa 1678.

The dominant ship recurs in another work by Van de Velde formerly with Johnny van Haeften (in 1985); the only major difference between the two is that the mainsail is stiff in the wind in the ex-Van Haeften picture, where here it seems loose in the gale. The yacht in the left background is very probably the Cleveland, built in 1671; from January 1685 she was used in the service of the Office of Ordance until paid off in 1715.