Willem van de Velde the Elder

估價

60,000 - 80,000 GBP

招標截止

描述

Willem van de Velde the Elder
Indiamen joining the Dutch fleet outside Bergen, 27 August/6 September 1665
Graphite and grey wash on two joined sheets;
illegibly inscribed in graphite top left, and below one ship. Bears later inscription in pen and brown ink: nine Indiamen after the fight in Bergen harbour and many/ merchant men join the fleet under Adm. de Ruiter, Sept^r. 6.1665. and on ship to right, in pen and grey ink: The Delfland. 70^g./adm^l. de Ruyter and lower right in black ink: O.Vandervelde
11 ¼ins. by 40ins; 280mm by 1024mm

出版

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. 50, under no. 126;
idem., The Willem van de Velde Drawings in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum Rotterdam, 3 vols., Rotterdam 1979, vol. I, p. 37

拍品資料及來源

This drawing and lot 43 belong to a large series made by Van de Velde during during the Dutch fleet's expedition to Norway, under Admiral de Ruyter, to rescue the East Indies fleet commanded by Pieter de Bitter, which had taken refuge in Bergen during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667). The Dutch Indiamen successfully defended themselves against an English attack, and then made their way out to join de Ruyter's fleet. While de Ruyter and his ships remained outside the fiords, Van de Velde actually went on up to the town in his galjoot, returning with de Bitter's rescued fleet of Indiamen.

The inscription, though in a later hand, must transcribe an original inscription made by the artist, recording the drawing's exact date of execution, and identifying de Ruyter's flagship, the Delfland, shown prominently towards the right of the composition.