Decoration of the head (for a yacht to be built for the Van de Veldes)

The bow of the yacht on the starboard side, showing dolphin and merman decoration on the rail close to the stem, and a similar design round the hawsehole.

Above is a sketch of the same part, but showing the head of the stem coming above the rail.

This is an unsigned pencil drawing by the Younger, touched with pen and brown ink.

This is one of ten sketch plans of a small Dutch-type bezan yacht, which the Younger was designing for himself. They are identified by the coat of arms, as a similar arms surrounded by the initials ‘W.V.VJ’ was found in the form of a seal impressed on the stretcher of a painting in the Ingram Collection.

The date of the drawings is uncertain; the style might be as late as 1700 and the apparently English inscription ‘op sij dun’ (? upside down) on PAF6571 is on paper the Van de Veldes used in 1665, and the form of the signature is as early as this. PAF6570 and PAH1853, however, are on paper the Van de Veldes used in 1675. 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 recognised in any paintings and drawings. There is, however, a boeier yacht shown in a painting in the National Gallery (978) having the monogram ‘W V V’ in the pendant at the stern as in the drawing at Vierhouten.

Object Details

ID: PAF6572
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Velde, Willem van de, the Younger
Date made: 1675?
People: Velde, Willem van de, the Younger
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Primary support: 245 mm x 141 mm; Mount: 555 mm x 405 mm