WILLEM VAN DE VELDE THE YOUNGER | An English ship firing a gun and coming to anchor off a European Mediterranean fortification

Sir Paul Methuen (1672–1757), Grosvenor Street, London,;
Thence by descent to Paul Methuen, 1st Baron Methuen (1779–1849), Corsham Court, Wiltshire;
By whom sold to the dealer, Mr Yates;
By whom sold to Mr Pilbrow;
Sir Bruce Stirling Ingram (1877–1963), London, Cambridge and Chesham;
By whom given to his daughter, Madame Avril Prost (b. 1905), in the 1950s (as Samuel Scott; according to Robinson's own annotated files at the RKD);
Private collection, England;
From whence sold, London, Sotheby's, 8 March 1967, lot 147 (as C. Brooking), for £3,900 to Major Goodall;
With Spink & Son, London, July 1967 (when advertised in The Burlington Magazine);
With Edward Speelman, London, by July 1968;
Acquired from the above in 1971 by the father of the present owner;
Thence by descent.

Basel, Kunstmuseum, Im Lichte Hollands, 14 June – 27 September 1987, no. 104.

Catalogues of the collections of pictures of The Duke of Devonshire, and the late Sir Paul Methuen, Strawberry Hill 1760, p. 29, (as on the first floor of Grosvenor Street, on both sides of the marble table, out of the hall: 'a port in the Mediterranean [...] by William Vanderveld, junior');
J. Dodsley, London and its Environs described, London 1761, vol. 3, p. 86 (listing the pictures belonging to the late Paul Methuen Esq.: 'a port in the Mediterranean [...] by William Vanderveld, junior');
J. Britton, The Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. II, London 1801, p. 287 (listing pictures at Corsham Court: 'A Port in the Mediterranean, by Vandervelde, Junior');
J. Britton, An historical account of Corsham House, London 1806, p. 35 (as in the Cabinet Room, South Side: 'A Port in the Mediterranean, W. Vandervelde, Jun.');
J.P. Neale, Views of the seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, London 1825, 2nd series, vol. 2, p. 2 ('View of a Port in the Mediterranean – W. Vandervelde, jun.');
J. Smith, A catalogue raisonné..., vol. VI, London 1835, pp. 390–91, cat. no. 248 (described in the wrong orientation, as 'painted in the artist's latter time');
G.F. Waagen, Works of art and artists in Great Britain, London 1838, p. 104 (as at Corsham Court: 'Two Sea-pieces, in one of which a battle is represented; pretty little pictures');
C. Hofstede de Groot, A catalogue raisonné..., vol. VII, London 1923, p. 15, cat. no. 34 (as datable to 1672);
P. ten-Doesschate Chu, in Im Lichte Hollands, exh. cat., Zürich 1987, p. 264, cat. no. 104, reproduced in colour p. 265;
M.S. Robinson, Van de Velde, A Catalogue of Paintings of the Elder and Younger Willem van de Velde, Greenwich 1990, vol. II, pp. 609–11, cat. no. 15, reproduced p. 610 (as 'probably by the Younger c. 1695 [...] it may be that it is entirely by the master').

The canvas is lined, the paint surface is relatively clean and the varnish only slightly discoloured. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals very little intervention, save for some strengthening in the rowing boat lower left. The painting appears otherwise to be untouched and in very good overall condition. Offered in a carved and gilt wood frame with a few minor losses.
"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."

The ship on the right, which has a man-o'-war's pendant, but whose striped ensign and jack may mark her as a merchant ship, bears much similarity to the Dutch warship firing a salute in Van de Velde's earlier painting in upright format, known as The Cannon Shot.¹ The present work was most likely a companion to the painting now at Yale, depicting An Action between English Ships and Barbary Corsairs, which was very probably one of the other three paintings recorded in the Methuen collection until the sale at Foster's in 1846.² 1 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. no. SK-C-244; see Robinson 1990, pp. 292–95, cat. no. 56, reproduced p. 293. See also a drawing of this motif by Van de Velde, at New Haven, Connecticut, Yale Centre for British Art, inv. no. B1977.14.5605; see P. van der Merwe, in Spreading Canvas: Eighteenth-Century British Marine Painting, E. Hughes (ed.), exh. cat., New Haven 2016, p. 145, cat. no. 8, reproduced. 
2 New Haven, Connecticut, Yale Centre for British Art, inv. no. B1981.25.641; see P. van der Merwe, in Hughes 2016, pp. 134–35 and 144, cat. no. 7, reproduced.