Willem Van de Velde the Younger (Dutch, 1633-1707), "Dutch Coastal Craft Colliding in a Stiff Breeze, with other Shipping Beyond", c. 1670s, oil on wood panel, signed lower right, label from early 20th c. auction catalogue en verso "Van der Cappelle, lot 275" with black stencil "99KJ" and white chalk inscription, "Detwiler / + St Georges Galls" [London?] also en verso, 16 5/8 in. x 24 in., in a late 18th or early 19th c. carved and gilt-washed wood frame.
PLEASE NOTE: Provenance: With the collector, Wayne Francis Palmer (1895-1983), Springlake Plantation, Mobile, AL; thence by descent in the Palmer Family. Note: This wonderful picture, with its sense of high drama and movement under a spectacular sky, is a quintessentially characteristic "cabinet painting" by the younger Van de Velde. It may well have been painted in England, to which both Willem Van de Veldes, father and son, transferred in 1672/73 at the invitation of King Charles II (Willem the Younger's salary being £100), to studios in the Queen's House, Greenwich Palace. A slightly earlier panel painting by Michiel van Musscher (1645-1705) shows Willem the Younger in the process of painting in oils from his father's grisaille sketches, spread out on the floor of his Amsterdam studio (Lord Northbrook private collection); this was his preferred method of composition throughout his long life, in which he became perhaps the most prominent marine painter in Europe. This painting (partly affected by crackled varnish on the sails, though with the underlying paint layers apparently unchanged) shows greater than usual dynamism and coloristic variety. The craft colliding in the foreground-a motif almost unknown in 17th-c. marine paintings-are probably kaags, though possibly the slightly more elaborate vessels called smalschips; the medium-sized boat heading toward them is apparently a hoeker, and the larger ship in the distance is probably a brig, or a snow. The splendid silhouette of the far shore, with its distant town, hilltop castle, and conical mountain, is remarkable; the closest foreground object is apparently a buoy. The seamen converging at the point of contact, attempting to ward off the impact, are painted with a profusion of gesture, color, and chiaroscuro; the boats themselves are beautifully differentiated; the eruptions of spray, and especially the sail of the near vessel torn by the wind, are typical Van de Velde features that are handled here with sureness, vigor, and precision. Panel pictures ascribed to this artist are rare on the market and signed examples are highly unusual (compare those at Christie's South Kensington, 11 November 2009, lot 5; Christie's London, 6 December 2007, lot 6; and Christie's Amsterdam, 11 May 2005, lot 66). References: E.H.H. Archibald, Dictionary of Sea Painters, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1980/1982), pp. 49, 52-53, 190-192, pls. 147, 149, 152, 155. G. Jackson-Stops, ed., Treasure Houses of Britain, Washington, 1985, p. 373, no.305. D. Cordingly, "Willem van de Velde II," Grove Dictionary of Art, Jane Turner, ed., 34 vols., London, 1996, vol. 32, pp. 142-144. www.artnet/artprice.com, Willem II Van de Velde: signatures and auction results.