A Wijdschip in a Fresh Breeze

Willem van de Velde the Younger (Dutch, 1633–1707)

about 1665–70

Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas

Dimensions53.3 x 67.6 cm (21 x 26 5/8 in.)
Framed: 68.6 x 81.9 x 5.1 cm (27 x 32 1/4 x 2 in.)

Credit LinePromised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art

Accession numberL-R 1040.2016

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

In response to the expansion of the Dutch trading system in the 17^th century, local shipbuilders implemented important technical and design innovations. They were able to build specialized ships of all sizes more cheaply than any of their competitors. At right, Van de Velde shows two of the smaller new vessels, the wijdschip and the kaag, both used throughout the country for the transport of goods and passengers. A larger, three-masted warship is at left. The types of ships, the fact that no land is visible, and the choppiness of the waves suggest that the artist here depicts the Zuiderzee, a large inlet of the North Sea, providing Amsterdam access to the northeastern provinces and points further north.

ProvenanceProbably Edward Knight (b. 1734 – d. 1812), Wolverley House, Worcestershire; by inheritance to his nephew, John Knight, Esq. (b. 1767 – d. 1850), Portland Place, London; March 23-24, 1819, Knight sale, Phillips, London, lot 39, sold for 535 gns. to Samuel Woodburn (dealer; b. about 1786 – d. 1853), London; probably sold by Woodburn to Jeremiah Harman (dealer; b. about 1764 – d. 1844), London. Michael Zachary (b. 1773 – d. 1837), London; by 1835, sold by Zachary to Frederick Perkins (b. 1780 – d. 1860), London [see note 1]; by descent to his son, George Perkins (b. 1805 – d. 1879), Chipstead, Kent; June 14, 1890, Perkins estate sale, Georges Petit, Paris, lot 28, unsold; June 3, 1893, Perkins estate sale, Georges Petit, Paris, lot 16. About 1895, Steinmeyer, Cologne; probably sold by Steinmeyer to Götz Martius (b. 1853 – d. 1927), Kiel, Germany [see note 2]; by descent within the family to Martius's great-grandchildren; December 13, 2000, anonymous (Martius descendants) sale, Christie’s, London, lot 33. 2000, sold by Johnny van Haeften (dealer), London, to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA.

NOTES:
[1] According to John Smith, Catalogue of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol. 6 (London, 1835), no. 104, the painting was “bought by Mr. Woodburn, from whom it passed into the collections of Jeremiah Harman, Esq., and Michael Zachary, Esq., and is now in the possession of Frederick Perkins, Esq.” Perkins lent the painting to the British Institution in 1836, as “A Gale, with Fishing-Boats – Man-of-War in the Distance.”

[2] Probably the Cologne art dealer Nikolaus Steinmeyer. According to the 2000 Christie’s catalogue, Steinmeyer had this painting around 1895 and sold it to the great-grandfather of the owners. Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol. 7 (London, 1923), no. 479, gives the owner of the painting as G. Martius, Kiel.