(Leiden 1633 – Greenwich 1707)

Design for the artist’s yacht, c. 1687

Pen and brown ink, 41.8 x 29.8 cm

Monogrammed lower right: w.v.v.j., and in pennant at the stern: WVV

With the following annotation by the artist: ‘orte by ginck houd te beterwese’ and ‘binne soo dick als buyte de kiel en breeder als hogh/de kiel gaene ofte planck naeste d kiel dick vol 2 duijm oftemer(?) en breet’. These notes provide information on the thickness and shape of the keel.

Watermark: Coat of Arms of Genoa (Robinson No 48 but with the letter Z in the lower circle).

The watermark suggests a date around 1687.

Provenance: D.G. van Beuningen, Vierhouten; European private collection

Literature: M. Robinson,Van de Velde drawings in the National Maritime Museum a catalogue of Drawings in the National Maritime Museum made by the Younger Willem van de Velde, 2 vols, Cambridge 1958-1974, vol. 1 p. 91, no. 517-526.
He writes of this drawing: ‘A drawing in the collection of D. G. van Beuningen at Vierhouten has an Italian watermark not usually found in England before 1680. It is possible that Van de Velde planned originally to build a yacht while he was with the Dutch and he revived his scheme when he came to England. It is unlikely that she was ever built as designed because she cannot be recognized in any paintings and drawings. There is, however, a Boeier yacht shown in a painting in the National Gallery (978) having the monogram WVV in the pendant at the stern as in the drawing at Vierhouten.’

Note: By indicating the monogram WVV in the pennant, it will certainly have been W. van de Velde’s intention to have the yacht built for his own use.