ANDRIES VAN EERTVELT | A four-masted ship flying the flag of Zeeland, another vessel beyond

Anonymous sale, London, Phillips, 1849, lot unknown (according to the 1888 catalogue below);¹  There purchased ('through Mr Barker') by Sir John Josiah Guest, 1st Bt., (1785–1852), Canford Manor, Dorset (bears the family bookplate on the reverse of the panel);

By descent to Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne (1835–1914), Canford Manor, Dorset;

By descent to the Rt Hon. Ivor Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne (1873–1939);

By whom sold London, Christie's, 9 March 1923, lot 57 (as Van de Velde) for 170 guineas to Asscher;

G. Ribbius Pelletier, Utrecht, from 1941 until after 1952, by whom deposited ('Bewaergeving') at the Centraal Museum, Utrecht (according to a label; on the reverse of the frame);

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Mak van Waay, 12 May 1975, lot 284, (as Hendrik Cornelisz. Vroom), where acquired by Baron van Dedem. 

Utrecht, Centraal Museum, on loan from 1941–1952(?) (as Dutch School mid-17th century), 1952 inv. no. 1186.

A Catalogue of the Pictures at Canford Manor in the possession of Lord Wimborne, 1888, p. 101, no. 252 (as Willem van de Velde the Elder); M.E. Houtzager (ed.), Centraal Museum, Utrecht. Catalogus der Schilderijen, Utrecht 1952, p. 403, no. 1186 (as Dutch school, mid-17th century);

P.C. Sutton, Dutch & Flemish Paintings, The Collection of Willem Baron van Dedem, London 2002, pp. 96–99, no. 16, reproduced.

The support consists of a single uncradled oak board, bevelled on three edges, which has developed a slight convex bow. The paint surface appears to be in excellent condition throughout, with all the details of rigging and original brushstrokes preserved throughout. There has been some light scuffing to the right margin, probably caused by movement within a previous frame. There has been a limited amount of scattered and very careful retouching to some areas in the sky and the sails which is visible under ultra violet light but not to the naked eye. The varnish remains clear and even, and the painting should not require any further attention. Offered with a modern parcel gilt frame in good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Andries van Eertvelt was one of the most important of the earliest generation of Flemish marine painters. His later biographer Cornelis de Bie (1627–1715) in his Gulden Cabinet of 1661, praised him for painting his subjects ‘naer ‘t leven’ (from the life) and for using ‘selfs ghe inventeert’ (his own designs), and suggested that he must have been to sea as a young man. Van Eertvelt specialised in the new subject matter of naval engagements, events and shipwrecks, in which he combined the tradition of the marines painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the preceding century with that of his pioneering Dutch contemporary in Haarlem, Hendrick Cornelisz. Vroom (1590–1640). A trip to Genoa between 1628 and 1630, where he encountered the work of his compatriot Cornelis de Wael may also have been highly formative. Van Eertvelt’s work, with its busy, brightly coloured and dramatic style, was highly prized by his contemporaries, and his portrait was painted by Van Dyck himself (figs 1 and 2).² As the fine Dutch man-of-war depicted in this panel shows, he was one of the first Flemish marine painters to be active in Holland.³   The impressive ship depicted here is unusually large, for it has four masts, a rarity in Dutch sea-going vessels of this period.⁴ This, and the fact that it is well armed, with all its gun-ports opened, suggest that it is a man-of-war. The flag flying from the stern is probably that of the province of Zeeland, whose capital was Middelburg. The warship appears to getting under way or preparing to tack, for there is a freshening breeze and her sailors are busy with the sails on the fore and main masts, while on her port side a gun is firing a salute, as a trumpeter sounds a blast from his position atop the poop deck. Astern of her, another smaller man of war is already underway on a port tack. The details of the rigging and the ship’s decoration are carefully observed, and may well validate de Bie’s assertion that Van Eertvelt was ‘a son of the sea’. Certainly his style is extremely busy and colourful, with the picture composed along his favourite intersecting diagonals, with the main vessel set almost square to the viewer, and the bright colours of the flags and the white foam of the waves standing out against the deep green-blue of the sea itself.

It is not known who, if anyone, taught Van Eertvelt, but the clear similarities between his work and that of Hendrick Vroom, including, for example, a copy of the latter’s Return of the East India Company Fleet to Amsterdam of 1599 (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich),⁵ has led scholars to speculate that he was the latter’s pupil, or had some professional connection with him. The man-of-war in this picture, for example, may be compared  with the flagship in a larger panel by Vroom sold Amsterdam, Sotheby Maak van Way, 2 June 1986, lot 42. Indeed, when the present panel was sold in Amsterdam in 1975 it was then attributed to Vroom himself. The swirling white waves with their stylised crests are an indication that this is a relatively early work, most probably painted before Van Eertvelt’s departure for Italy in 1628. Upon his return from Genoa in 1630 he seems to have increasingly favoured a broader and more painterly style.

Baron van Dedem acquired this painting at auction in May 1975, one of his earliest purchases. Though given to Hendrick Vroom in the sale catalogue, Van Dedem's famous 'black book' recording all his purchases notes that both Laurens Bol and George Keyes attributed it to Andries van Eertvelt.   

 

1 It has not been possible to trace the painting in the three paintings sales at Phillips in that year. An anonymous sale of 6 March included as lot 19 a 'Fresh breeze offshore with vessels under sail' of similar dimensions (19 x 28 inches) but this was catalogued simply as 'Powell' and was likely of a later date.

2 Bayerisches Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Staatsgalerie Schleissheim, inv. 4841.

3 Eertvelt’s prices were 14 guilders for ‘double-sized’ canvases, seven for ‘single-sized’ and four for ‘quarter-sized’, including the frame. J. Bruyn, ‘Een onderzoek naar 17de-eeuwse schilderinformaten, voornamelijk in Noord-Nederland’, Oud Holland, 9, 1891, pp. 221–24.

4 Another, the De Hollandse Tuyn, may be found in an enormous canvas by Vroom of around 1610–15 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

5 A smaller version, signed ‘AE’ and painted on copper was sold from the collection of the New York Historical Society, New York, Sotheby’s, 12 January 1995, lot 6.