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van de Velde drawingsThe NMM possesses one of the largest collections of drawings by the Willem van de Veldes, father and son, with over 1500 items. The drawings were acquired for the Museum from the 1930s onwards from major European collections and boast illustrious provenances - coming from the collections of J. M. W. Turner and the famous collector Sir Robert Witt (1872-1952) among others. The themes represented are delightfully varied, showing Dutch and English ships and yachts, ship decoration, views of fleets, battles, landscapes, royal events and figure studies. The collection spans the late 17th century and includes works by van de Velde the Elder in the 1630s, the work of father and son during the 1650s and ‘60s, through to the mature work of the Younger in the 1670s and beyond. Browse the entire collection or: View by:
About this collectionThe NMM possesses one of the largest collections of drawings by the Willem van de Veldes, father and son, with over 1500 items. The drawings were acquired for the Museum from the 1930s onwards from major European collections and boast illustrious provenances - coming from the collections of J. M. W. Turner and the famous collector Sir Robert Witt (1872-1952) among others. The themes represented are delightfully varied, showing Dutch and English ships and yachts, ship decoration, views of fleets, battles, landscapes, royal events and figure studies. The collection spans the late 17th century and includes works by van de Velde the Elder in the 1630s, the work of father and son during the 1650s and ‘60s, through to the mature work of the Younger in the 1670s and beyond. The van de Veldes moved to England in 1672 on the invitation of King Charles II. They worked from a studio in the Queen’s House, thereby establishing the residence as a locus for the production of art. Their pioneering techniques laid the foundation for the practice of marine painting in England in the 18th and 19th centuries, and their work has influenced that of celebrated painters including Samuel Scott, Dominic Serres, John Constable and - most famously - J. M. W. Turner. Willem van de Velde the Elder spent a lot of his time at sea with the Dutch fleet, sometimes as an independent observer, sometimes in an official capacity as a war artist, and his panoramas demonstrate his passion for recording what lay within his field of vision. His drawings, mostly carried out in pen and grey wash, provide an extraordinarily complete record of the ships and small craft of Holland and England in the late 17th century. Particular attention is always paid to such details as figureheads, stern carvings and gun ports, which differentiate one ship from another. Unlike his father, van de Velde the Younger did not make a regular practice of sailing with the Dutch or the English fleets. A constant feature of his work is the outstanding representation of the inland-water-way vessels, which he worked into his drawings in great variety and in all sorts of positions. The drawings in the NMM collections were catalogued by the late Michael Robinson in a seminal two-volume publication: ‘A Catalogue of Drawings in the National Maritime Museum made by the Elder and the Younger Van de Velde’ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958 and 1974). The present online catalogue has recaptured the facts from Robinson's authoritative work. |
