Willem van de Velde, 'A Dutch Yacht saluting', 1661
About the work
Overview
This is the largest and most elaborate of the pictures by Willem van de Velde the Younger in the National Gallery’s collection. Painted with the artist’s usual accuracy and fine detail, the depiction of a marine occasion fairly common in a seafaring nation like seventeenth-century Holland becomes spectacular and exciting. The central vessel is a Statenjacht (state yacht) flying the Dutch colours. The puff of smoke is cannon fire, a salute to the officials approaching in the barge alongside, which bears the coat of arms of Amsterdam.
The small pleasure yacht on the extreme right carries a pennant, the colours of which signify a private vessel. The blue panel on the pennant features a gold wreath with the initials ‘W/VV’ in the centre. This would perhaps suggest that van de Velde has portrayed the family yacht, though whether the people on board are the van de Veldes is open to question.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Dutch Yacht surrounded by Many Small Vessels, saluting as Two Barges pull alongside
- Artist
- Willem van de Velde
- Artist dates
- 1633 - 1707
- Date made
- 1661
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 90 × 126 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated
- Acquisition credit
- Wynn Ellis Bequest, 1876
- Inventory number
- NG978
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 21st-century Replica Frame
Provenance
Probably the picture of vaguely similar description and same size in the Robit sale, Paris, 11 sqq. May 1801 (lot 163), bought by Gambot (3,010 francs). In the collection of the Comte de Pourtalès, Paris; among the pictures bought from that collection by John Smith and Thomas Emmerson and in the Pourtalès collection sale, London, 19–20 May 1826 (lot 116), bought by Phillips (presumably bought in), 500 gns; Thomas Emmerson sale, London, 15–16 June 1832 (lot 150), 580 gns. Foster’s, London, 25 June 1836, lot 89. In the collection of Wynn Ellis, London; exhibited as from the Wynn Ellis collection at the RA in 1871. Wynn Ellis Bequest, 1876.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2020Masterpieces from the National Gallery, LondonThe National Museum of Western Art18 June 2020 - 18 October 2020The National Museum of Art3 November 2020 - 31 January 2021
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2021Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, LondonNational Gallery of Australia5 March 2021 - 14 June 2021
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2023The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, Art and the SeaQueen's House24 February 2023 - 14 January 2024
Bibliography
-
1826Phillips, Catalogue of Distinguished Collection of Select and Beautiful Paintings (Pourtalès Sale), London, 19 May 1826 - 20 May 1826
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1830
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1907C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
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1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
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1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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A warship keels over in the face of an advancing storm, a Dutch flag flying boldly at its mainmast, the arms of the Province of Holland on its stern. The gun ports are open, the cannon out at the ready – probably for practice. A small fishing boat is tossed about on the crest of the wash left beh...
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A merchant ship, probably an Indiaman, comes to anchor. After a long and dangerous journey, perhaps to the Far East or the West Indies, the white sails are being lowered one by one. The flag on the foremast suggests that this is the vessel of the vice admiral of a small fleet. The crew is busy an...
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Small waves scud across the sea, the boats running before the stiff breeze. In the centre, its white sail straining, is a Statenjacht (state yacht), a vessel used by the ‘States General’, the Dutch chamber of provincial delegates in The Hague. It flies the Dutch colours and the arms of the Provin...
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An angry tide surges around two small transport boats heading for disaster under a stormy sky. The crew of the kaag, desperate to avoid collision with the fast approaching smalschip, have released the horizontal spar to take the wind out of the mainsail. This way, the vessel will slow and – with...
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An angry light breaks through threatening clouds, illuminating a wave that beats up against the side of a galjoot, the small boat keeling over with the wind. An explosion of white spray looks almost as if it is reaching up to swallow the man hauling in the foresail. The blue and white flag at the...
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In this picture, Willem van de Velde the Younger displays his skills as an exceptionally gifted painter of ships. Each vessel here is accurately depicted. An English ketch in the foreground flies the flag of Saint George, and a weyschuit (a small open boat) moves almost alongside it. To the left,...
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During the seventeenth century, the Dutch Republic was frequently at war, often with England. It’s possible that this is a picture of a fleet preparing for battle.The sea is quiet, but there is a sense of urgency in the scene. A crowd of small boats pull out from the shore, the men rowing powerfu...
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High, scudding clouds and a restless sea bring a feeling of freshness to Willem van de Velde’s painting. Two lowered white sails seem to tumble towards the water, and echo the froth on the tops of the waves. The breeze is almost palpable, with spars, masts and vessels all leaning at different ang...
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This exquisite little picture evokes the tranquillity of the early morning, perhaps – judging by the low, clear light and puffiness of the clouds – at the beginning of spring. The reflections in the calm water are perfect, undisturbed by the porpoises in the shadows. Two fishing boats appear on t...
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High, light clouds drift across the wide sky. All seems quiet at the end of the day. A man with a fishing basket strapped to his back squelches across the wet sand left by the ebbing tide, and the sun is still warm enough for a group of men and boys to skinny-dip in the shallow water. Clothes are...
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Willem van de Velde, usually so interested in the detailed depiction of individual vessels, seems to be more concerned in this painting with atmosphere and the emotion evoked by a view of the sea in the evening light. The warm glow of a low sun casts the vessels close to us into shadow, leaving t...
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Four small boats are gently run aground in an inlet on a sandy shore. The tide is out, the sea is calm and a man with a basket wades into the picture. Some fishermen are barefoot, others tend their craft without hurry. Sails hang up to dry in the sun and the Dutch flags on the mast tops droop. In...
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A brisk wind brings a small fleet of fishing pinks to shore, tossed and buffeted by the choppy waves. A fitful sun breaks through the fast moving clouds. It lights up the long curve of the wide bay and the high dunes, but there’s a sense of mistiness, suggesting a fine spray from the sea and sof...
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The merchant ships we see here are in some peril. The wind is so strong that they have been forced to take down their sails and are drifting at the mercy of the gale and the surging sea. Our attention is focused on the nearest ship, a man-of-war, as it ploughs into a breaking wave. A sudden shaft...
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Willem van de Velde was the leading Dutch marine painter of the later seventeenth century. This is one of his smallest paintings – it’s only about the size of a sheet of A4 paper.In the foreground, two boats known as kagen speed shorewards before a stiff breeze. These were sturdy, flat-bottomed v...
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Studio of Willem van de Velde
The low horizon gives a vast sky – very much how a sailor in a small boat at sea experiences the world. But the men working on the vessels seem unconcerned with the view: these are inshore working craft.In the centre is a smalschip, a transport vessel carrying a Dutch ensign. Beached on the spit...
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Studio of Willem van de Velde
Two sailing boats – a flat-bottomed kaag and smaller, more open weyschuit, which had a similar rig – are shown in the foreground. They appear to be at the mouth of a harbour or estuary. One sails towards and the other away from a black buoy. This is a similar composition to another van de Velde p...
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You've viewed 6 of 17 works