Willem van de Velde the Younger

M.S. Robinson, A Catalogue of Drawings in the National Maritime Museum made by the Elder and the Younger Willem van de Velde, Cambridge 1958, vol. I, p. 157, under no. 321

Hinge mounted. There is an old vertical crease running vertically to the right edge and evidence of surface dirt to the four edges. There is a small reddish brown stain to the lower left corner and three light brown stains to the upper left corner. The medium is fresh throughout.
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Of the two 'portraits' of the famous Dutch warship Zeven Provincien to be found in the Northumberland collection (see also lot 27), this is certainly the less formal and imposing in scale.  It was clearly made as much more of an initial sketch, and this gives it even more freedom and spontaneity than we see in the other, more detailed drawing.  The viewpoint is also different and in the present work we can see the elaborate stern decoration that is one of the main keys to identifying the many different ships that the van de Veldes drew and painted over the decades.

The decorations on the stern of the Zeven Provincien consisted of the lion of the United Provinces, on a crowned shield, surrounded by the arms of each province, the whole supported by two more lions, with a female figure above, and another shield below bearing a lion rampant on crossed anchors.  Even though this is a far less detailed drawing than the grand side view of the same ship in this collection, all the details of her decorations are clearly visible, and together the two drawings give a very complete image of this important ship, built in 1665, which served in many important campaigns before she was ultimately broken up in 1694.  See also the note to lot 27.