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Lot Essay
This serene and poetic Calm by Willem van de Velde the Younger, not seen on the market for over a century, is a refined early work, painted while the artist was still in his twenties. Dating to circa 1660, it allows for a vivid appreciation of van de Velde’s skilful technique and unique ability to render light and atmosphere, as exemplified in his Calm sold in these Rooms on 3 July 2012 (lot 18, sold for £4,073,250) and his Dutch Vessels close inshore at low tide, and men bathing of 1661 (fig. 1; London, National Gallery). Both the present painting and that at the National Gallery formed part of the distinguished collection of Charles-Ferdinand de Bourbon, duc de Berry in the early-nineteenth century.
Arguably the most famous marine painter of the second half of the seventeenth century, Willem the Younger moved to Weesp in circa 1648. There, he is thought to have studied under Simon de Vlieger, whose subtle and atmospheric seascapes were a crucial influence alongside the more academic training of his father, Willem van de Velde the Elder. Back in Amsterdam by 1652, Willem the Younger took up work in his father's studio, where his prodigious talent rapidly became clear. It is at this time that he began painting scenes such as this one, no doubt inspired both by de Vlieger, and also by Jan van de Cappelle. The latter, who executed a number of Calms in the early 1650s which directly evoke the languid mood and compositional harmony of the present picture, such as his Kaag and a Smak in a Calm of 1653, sold in these Rooms, 8 July 2005, lot 33.
In this picture, three men launch a weyschuit in the right foreground, aground on a sandbank near a small withy marking the spit of sand. To their left, a kaag comes alongside a smalschip at anchor, with their sprit-sails slack and their crews conversing. It is against the backdrop of airy, cumulous clouds that the water mirrors their forms under the light of a late afternoon, washing in broad ripples towards the viewer. Offshore to the right, a man-of-war sits broadside, with her bows to the right, firing a gun to starboard, with other vessels in the distance.
Willem the Younger’s works were often based on designs made by Willem the Elder in grisaille penschilderijen, which were then transformed into coloured paintings by the younger van de Velde. The precise nature of this working relationship is hinted at by an English Royal warrant of 1674, which specified equal payments to the two artists: to the father 'for taking and making Draughts of seafights', and to his son 'for putting the said Draughts into colours for our particular use'. Father and son moved to England in 1672, around which time the subject-matter of Willem the Younger's paintings underwent a marked change, with shipwreck and storm subjects tending to replace the calms of the 1660s.
A note on the provenance:
Not seen on the market for over a century, and with particularly distinguished provenance, this picture’s first recorded owner was Charles-Ferdinand de Bourbon, duc de Berry, the son of King Charles X of France, who was a keen patron of the arts and assembled an important collection of pictures at his residence, the Elysée Palace (now the residence of the President of France). In 1816, he married Princess Marie-Caroline de Bourbon, daughter of King Francis II of Naples. After the duc's assassination in 1820, Marie-Caroline, who was painted by François Pascal Simon, baron Gérard (1820) and Sir Thomas Lawrence (1825; both Château de Versailles), found solace in the arts, buying primarily contemporary French art. Much of the collection was moved to her principal residence, the château de Rosny-sur-Seine, which her husband had purchased for her in 1818, and which was filled with the finest furniture of the age.
The picture collection, of which the majority of the Old Masters had been acquired by her late husband, included works such as Isaac van Ostade's Halt at the Inn, Jan van der Heyden's Architectural capriccio (both Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art), Aelbert Cuyp's Avenue at Meerdervoort, Paulus Potter's Cattle in stormy weather (both London, Wallace Collection), Frans van Mieris' Pictura (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum) and Willem van de Velde the Younger's Dutch vessels close inshore at low tide, men bathing (London, National Gallery). Other remnants of the de Berrys' celebrated collections of pictures, jewellery, furniture and porcelain can be seen at château de Rosny-sur-Seine and in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Bordeaux. Marie-Caroline was driven into exile by the July Revolution of 1830 and much of what she owned was dispersed in sales or among her Austrian and Italian descendants.
This painting was subsequently acquired by the great collector Johan Steengracht van Oostcapelle, who became the first director of the Mauritshuis and was considered among the foremost art connoisseurs in the Netherlands. He formed a renowned collection of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish paintings, many of which were exhibited in a private picture gallery on the Lange Vijverberg in The Hague, which opened to the public in 1823. These paintings passed through his family before being sold in a landmark sale at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris in 1913.
Arguably the most famous marine painter of the second half of the seventeenth century, Willem the Younger moved to Weesp in circa 1648. There, he is thought to have studied under Simon de Vlieger, whose subtle and atmospheric seascapes were a crucial influence alongside the more academic training of his father, Willem van de Velde the Elder. Back in Amsterdam by 1652, Willem the Younger took up work in his father's studio, where his prodigious talent rapidly became clear. It is at this time that he began painting scenes such as this one, no doubt inspired both by de Vlieger, and also by Jan van de Cappelle. The latter, who executed a number of Calms in the early 1650s which directly evoke the languid mood and compositional harmony of the present picture, such as his Kaag and a Smak in a Calm of 1653, sold in these Rooms, 8 July 2005, lot 33.
In this picture, three men launch a weyschuit in the right foreground, aground on a sandbank near a small withy marking the spit of sand. To their left, a kaag comes alongside a smalschip at anchor, with their sprit-sails slack and their crews conversing. It is against the backdrop of airy, cumulous clouds that the water mirrors their forms under the light of a late afternoon, washing in broad ripples towards the viewer. Offshore to the right, a man-of-war sits broadside, with her bows to the right, firing a gun to starboard, with other vessels in the distance.
Willem the Younger’s works were often based on designs made by Willem the Elder in grisaille penschilderijen, which were then transformed into coloured paintings by the younger van de Velde. The precise nature of this working relationship is hinted at by an English Royal warrant of 1674, which specified equal payments to the two artists: to the father 'for taking and making Draughts of seafights', and to his son 'for putting the said Draughts into colours for our particular use'. Father and son moved to England in 1672, around which time the subject-matter of Willem the Younger's paintings underwent a marked change, with shipwreck and storm subjects tending to replace the calms of the 1660s.
A note on the provenance:
Not seen on the market for over a century, and with particularly distinguished provenance, this picture’s first recorded owner was Charles-Ferdinand de Bourbon, duc de Berry, the son of King Charles X of France, who was a keen patron of the arts and assembled an important collection of pictures at his residence, the Elysée Palace (now the residence of the President of France). In 1816, he married Princess Marie-Caroline de Bourbon, daughter of King Francis II of Naples. After the duc's assassination in 1820, Marie-Caroline, who was painted by François Pascal Simon, baron Gérard (1820) and Sir Thomas Lawrence (1825; both Château de Versailles), found solace in the arts, buying primarily contemporary French art. Much of the collection was moved to her principal residence, the château de Rosny-sur-Seine, which her husband had purchased for her in 1818, and which was filled with the finest furniture of the age.
The picture collection, of which the majority of the Old Masters had been acquired by her late husband, included works such as Isaac van Ostade's Halt at the Inn, Jan van der Heyden's Architectural capriccio (both Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art), Aelbert Cuyp's Avenue at Meerdervoort, Paulus Potter's Cattle in stormy weather (both London, Wallace Collection), Frans van Mieris' Pictura (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum) and Willem van de Velde the Younger's Dutch vessels close inshore at low tide, men bathing (London, National Gallery). Other remnants of the de Berrys' celebrated collections of pictures, jewellery, furniture and porcelain can be seen at château de Rosny-sur-Seine and in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Bordeaux. Marie-Caroline was driven into exile by the July Revolution of 1830 and much of what she owned was dispersed in sales or among her Austrian and Italian descendants.
This painting was subsequently acquired by the great collector Johan Steengracht van Oostcapelle, who became the first director of the Mauritshuis and was considered among the foremost art connoisseurs in the Netherlands. He formed a renowned collection of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish paintings, many of which were exhibited in a private picture gallery on the Lange Vijverberg in The Hague, which opened to the public in 1823. These paintings passed through his family before being sold in a landmark sale at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris in 1913.