WILLEM VAN DE VELDE THE YOUNGER | THE DUTCH FLEET IN THE HARBOR AT DEN HELDER

The present view can be compared with other similar views by Van de Velde that depict fleets at the entrance to the Texel, near Den Helder. Two examples are in the great collection of drawings by the Van de Veldes in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam¹, and another was recently sold in London.² Unlike those drawings, though, the present work includes quite a number of buildings in the background - surely Den Helder, which was the only significant settlement in that remote part of the North Holland peninsula. Den Helder, the Texel and the nearby islands were locations of immense importance for the Dutch fleet, and multiple fortifications were built in this area.  

1. M. Robinson, The Willem van de Velde drawings in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum..., Rotterdam 1979, vol. II, pls. 10 and 14

2.  Sale, London, Sotheby's, 4 July 2012, lot 128