Willem van de Velde the Younger

Probably Andrew Fountaine III (1770–1835), Narford Hall, Norfolk, by 1795;
Andrew Fountaine IV (1808–74), Narford Hall, Norfolk, by 1839;
Thence by family descent at Narford until 1985;
With Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, 1987;
From whom acquired by the late Walter Eberstadt, OBE, New York.

London, British Institution, 1839, no. 56

Probably Anon, The Norfolk Tour, 1795, p. 221, among 'Paintings Busts , &c. at Narford', as one of two 'Sea-pieces' by Van de Velde hanging in the Billiard Room;
Probably J.P. Neale, Views of the Seats, Mansions, Castles etc. of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, London 1820, vol. III, no. 13 (as A Sea-Piece – W. Vandevelde);
J. Smith, Supplement to A Catalogue Raisonné..., London 1842, p. 764, no. 23;
G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London 1854, vol. II, p. 430, no. 2 (as A smaller sea-piece, with a vessel firing a gun, is very delicate and refined);
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., London 1923, vol. VII, pp. 23 and 150, nos 72 and 618f;
M.S. Robinson, The Paintings of the Willem van de Velde, London, 1990, vol. II, pp. 759–62, no. 782.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Willem van de Velde the Younger. A Dutch Flagship with other shipping beyond. Signed with initials WVVJ at lower left. This painting is in exceptionally good intact condition. Having been in the same family collection since the 18th century, there appears to have been minimal intervention over centuries, with stable surroundings and in an apparently cool atmosphere. The present lining and stretcher may be from the first half of the twentieth century, and there seems to have been some light, quite superficial restoration nearer the end of the last century, but these have not caused any actual disturbance of the paint surface. Minute traces of very early dark old varnish can just be seen under magnification in the minute crevices of the canvas weave. Other old varnish from the slightly less remote past still remains across the surface, for instance in the upper centre right and here and there in other parts of the sky. The lighter sky in the lower distance seems to have rather less of this old varnish, which is rather darkened. The distant shipping near the horizon in this area is very slightly thin in parts, including the tiny distant flag. The only other areas with faint wear are the flags. The rigging throughout is astonishingly intact and completely unworn, as is every detail of the flagship down to the most minute description of the make up of the sails and the dark hull etc. The foreground of the painting appears also to be beautifully complete and unworn, beneath the old varnish. Under ultra violet light there are only minuscule surface touches visible across the sky, over opaque older varnishes. It is rare to find such a beautifully preserved painting of this period. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"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."

Painted probably in 1691, this is a particularly fine example of the last phase of Van de Velde’s career. Michael Robinson, who considered it to have been painted ‘directly and accurately’, remarked that ‘it could well be one of the few pictures of the latest period of which it could be said that it was painted entirely by the master’.

Robinson proposed that this scene depicted an actual historical event, namely the escort provided for King William III by a Dutch squadron on the occasion of his return to England from one of his many trips to Holland on 22–23 April 1691. The Dutch ship seen port bow view in the left foreground, firing a salute from her quarterdeck, may be the Gorkum of 40 guns, built in 1678. The short upright forehead at the bow corresponds well – but not exactly – with a drawing made of her by Van de Velde in 1683 (fig.1).¹ She flies at the main the pendant of the Vice-Admiral of the centre squadron of the Dutch fleet. This may be Vice-Admiral Philips van Almonde (1644–1711), who was in command for the short voyage. The events were also witnessed by Constantin Huygens the Younger, secretary to William III, who was aboard the Gorkum and who wrote in his journal: 

‘His Majesty came out and Vice-Admiral van Almonde came into the fleet with six other ships... (23rd April)... The vice-admiral and the ships with him came to an anchor off Margate. His Majesty left for London. We ran up the river passing an English fleet. In the evening we came to an anchor off Gravesend and moored on the flood. The English pilot went ashore.’²

If we accept Robinson’s interpretation then the distant Dutch flagship on the right is correctly shown flying a Dutch flag and pendant at the main, which would indicate the presence of William III as Stadtholder and the Commander-in-chief of the Dutch fleet. The yacht seen close under the Gorkum’s stern may therefore be an English vessel such as the Mary (named after William’s Queen), which would later have taken the King upriver to London from Margate. Willem van de Velde probably also witnessed these events first hand. Four long drawings by him depicting this voyage are today preserved in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and two further drawings, later worked up by Charles Gore, are preserved in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the Goethe Nationalmuseum in Weimar.³

This was one of two marines by Van de Velde that originally formed part of the celebrated collections formed by the famous connoisseur Sir Andrew Fountaine and his descendants at Narford Hall in Norfolk. In the anonymous guide, The Norfolk Tour, published in 1795, two 'sea-pieces' by 'Van Veld' are listed as hanging in the Billiard Room at Narford. As the paintings (or any marines) do not seem to be listed in the inventory of Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676–1753) published at his death in 1753,⁴ it seems that they were acquired by his son Andrew Fountaine (1770–1835). In his guide published in 1820, Neale only lists one work by the artist but two Van de Veldes were seen by Waagen on the occasion of his visit to the house in 1850. The other painting, which is also signed, described by Waagen as 'A larger sea-piece, with several vessels. Of fine effect and of spirited and marrowing execution', is presumably that sold in the Fountaine sale at Christie's on 7 July 1894, lot 28, and later with Galerie Sedelmeyer in Paris.⁵

 

 

 

 

1 Sold London, Sotheby’s, 27 March 1969, lot 98.

2 Hist. Genootschap te Utrecht, no. 23, 1876, pp. 421–22.

3 For the latter see Master Drawings, XV, 1977, no. 4, reproduced plates 32 and 37.

4 An inventory of the goods and effects of the late Sir Andrew Fountaine deceased knight at his late house at Narford in the county of Norfolk, Ms 1753, London, Victoria and Albert Museum.

5 Robinson 1990, vol. II, p. 602, no. 385. See also the Catalogue of the Second Hundred of Paintings by Old Masters in the Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris 1895, no. 48. The dimensions given, however, differ in the width of the canvas. This, or another unsigned version, follows the description given by Smith of a painting in the collection of the Hon. M. Currie (Smith 1842, no. 15).