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Lot Essay
Dated by Michael Robinson to the mid-1650s, this is a beautifully preserved example of Willem van de Velde II’s treatments of atmospheric Calms, painted during the early phase of his career in the Amsterdam studio of his father Willem van de Velde I. It demonstrates his supreme ability at rendering light and atmosphere, here capturing the essence of a still, bright summer’s day on the water as a private yacht fires a salute, a plume of smoke billowing up across its starboard bow. Typically, a large portion of the painting is devoted to the sky which the artist fills with voluminous, cumulus clouds depicted variously in light and shadow to dazzling effect, with their reflections subtly caught in the water below. The sun and a light breeze are coming from the left. Although the boats appear to have been casually arranged, the composition is calculated with careful precision to elicit an effortless sense of spatial harmony.
Van de Velde began painting scenes such as this in the early 1650s, no doubt inspired both by Simon de Vlieger (1600/01-1653), under whom he is thought to have trained in the years around 1648/49, and also by Jan van de Cappelle (1626-1679), who was probably also active in De Vlieger’s studio in Weesp at the same time. By 1652 he had returned to Amsterdam to work in his father’s studio. His younger brother Adrian was also active in the studio around this time, although only briefly and in a limited capacity, as he showed little interest in marine painting and soon moved to Haarlem to train with the landscape painter Jan Wynants. Robinson made the suggestion that Adrian might have had a hand in the present work, although this idea has resolutely been dismissed by Professor Jan Kelch, to whom we are grateful. Kelch dates the present work to the same period, circa 1655, and considers it wholly autograph, in the rendition of the figures as well as the ships, seeing no affinities with either of the two marines in which Adrian did irrefutably have a hand – the Dutch Yacht Mary with other yachts off Amsterdam, which bears both Willem and Adrian’s initials (Harcourt Collection); and Yachts and the Mary Yacht in a breeze (formerly with Duits, London). Judging from photographs, Kelch does question whether the present composition has been cut on the left side, although the well-preserved, chamfered panel gives no indication that the current format is not original.
Van de Velde began painting scenes such as this in the early 1650s, no doubt inspired both by Simon de Vlieger (1600/01-1653), under whom he is thought to have trained in the years around 1648/49, and also by Jan van de Cappelle (1626-1679), who was probably also active in De Vlieger’s studio in Weesp at the same time. By 1652 he had returned to Amsterdam to work in his father’s studio. His younger brother Adrian was also active in the studio around this time, although only briefly and in a limited capacity, as he showed little interest in marine painting and soon moved to Haarlem to train with the landscape painter Jan Wynants. Robinson made the suggestion that Adrian might have had a hand in the present work, although this idea has resolutely been dismissed by Professor Jan Kelch, to whom we are grateful. Kelch dates the present work to the same period, circa 1655, and considers it wholly autograph, in the rendition of the figures as well as the ships, seeing no affinities with either of the two marines in which Adrian did irrefutably have a hand – the Dutch Yacht Mary with other yachts off Amsterdam, which bears both Willem and Adrian’s initials (Harcourt Collection); and Yachts and the Mary Yacht in a breeze (formerly with Duits, London). Judging from photographs, Kelch does question whether the present composition has been cut on the left side, although the well-preserved, chamfered panel gives no indication that the current format is not original.