Willem van de Velde the Younger

Brook Greville, Esq.;
His sale, London, Christie's, 30 April 1836, lot 63, for 34 Guineas to Norton;
W. J. R. Dreesmann, by 1925;
His deceased sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 22-25 March 1960, lot 21;
B. de Geus van den Heuvel (1886-1976), Nieuwersluis;
His sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's Mak van Waay, 26-27 April 1976, lot 76, to Green;
With Richard Green, London, 1977;
Eric Dring, Boston, Lincolnshire, by 1982;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, 7 July 1989, lot 32;
There purchased by the present collector.

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Historische tentoonstelling, 3 July - 15 September 1925, no. 441;
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Breitner, tussen de schilders van Amsterdam, 23 December 1957 - 2 February 1958, no. 86;
Arnhem, Gemeente Museum, Collectie B. de Geus van den Heuvel te Nieuwersluis, 11 December 1960 - 26 February 1961, no. 74.

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, vol. VI, London 1835, pp. 370-371, cat. no. 179; and vol. IX (Supplement), London 1842, p. 765, cat. no. 30;
C. Hofstede de Groot C., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, vol. VII, London 1923, p. 5, cat. no. 1;
Verzameling Amsterdam W. J. R. Dreesmann, The Hague 1942, vol. I, p. 14, reproduced in color opposite p. 79;
H.P. Baard, Willem van de Velde de Oude; Willem van de Velde de Jonge, Amsterdam 1942, p. 35, reproduced;
M.S. Robinson, Van de Velde, A Catalogue of the Paintings of the Elder and Younger Willem van de Velde, Greenwich 1990, vol. I, pp. 516-517, cat. no. 96.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work does not appear to have been restored for some time. Although it looks very attractive, it is probably dirty. Under ultraviolet light, one can see faint retouches in the upper left and around the building and ships in the left side of the sky. There are also retouches in the foreground in the water in the lower center. There are no other retouches of any note. The picture would benefit greatly if it were cleaned, although some thinness may become more apparent in the upper right and upper left, where some faint glazes may have been added. The old lining is nicely supporting the paint layer.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This view of the blockhouses on the Amstel river was painted by Willem van de Velde, the Younger when he was in his early twenties and working in the studio of his father Willem the Elder.  An unusual subject for Willem the Younger, the format of the signature, with rounded letters rather than the angular ones of the studio signature, suggests that this work was painted by the young artist for a commission of his own and not as part of the Van de Velde studio production.¹

In July 1650, Prince Willem II of Orange made a failed attempt to invade the city of Amsterdam.  In order to prevent any such future attack it was decided that defenses should be erected, including two blockhouses on the Amstel just outside the city.  Built of timber and oak piles, they were completed in the summer of 1651. Their construction was not without controversy, as many local merchants feared that they would hinder commercial traffic on the river.²  Indeed, they did prove to be an impediment to river commerce and were ultimately removed in 1654 after only three years.  In this serene depiction by Willem the Younger, however, there is no indication of any congestion on the river.  It portrays a remarkably calm day with only a few vessels, some being rowed and others in the distance under sail.  The blockhouses proved popular with contemporary artists and, despite their short existence, are well documented in a number of paintings, drawings and prints, notably a winter view by Hendrik Dubbels, in the Amsterdams Historisch  Museum (oil on canvas), and an etching by Reinier Nooms.

Note on the Provenance:
This painting was for many years in the well-known collection of Willem J.R. Dreesmann (1885-1954), whose father Anton C.R. Dreesmann (1854-1934) was one of the founders of the Vroom & Dreesmann department store chain in Holland.  Willem Dreesman’s collection included paintings, drawings, silver and porcelain that related to the city of Amsterdam.  Following his death, this unique collection was offered for sale to the city but turned down by the city council, a decision later regretted when the collection was dispersed at auction in 1960.  The Blockhouses on the Amstel was then in the prominent collection of B. de Geus van den Heuvel (1886-1976), a land reclamation engineer.  He began collecting in the 1930s and acquired Dutch and Flemish works from the 16^th to the 20^th century.  Following his death, the two day sale in 1976 in Amsterdam was a major art world event and established auction records for many artists at that time.

 

1.  M.S. Robinson, op.cit., p. 516.
2.  M.V. Packer, “Building up and Tearing Down: The Persistent Attraction of Images of Demolished Buildings in Seventeenth-century Dutch Art,” in Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art, vol. 4, issue 1, 2012,  p. 3.