J Dehoij - Willem van de Velde Sketching a Sea Battle [1845]

J Dehoij - Willem van de Velde Sketching a Sea Battle [1845], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Dutch marine artists Willem van de Velde and his son, also called Willem, responded to Charles II’s declaration of June 1672 inviting Dutch people to move to England. In Holland, based in Amsterdam, the father made drawings of shipping and battles for the Dutch government, while his son, who had trained as a painter painted similar subjects. Soon after arriving in London they began their first major commission for the king, designs for a set of tapestries of the recent battle of Solebay during the third Anglo-Dutch War. They were paid salaries by the king - the father for making drawings, the son for his paintings. Over the next thirty years assisted by their studio they painted pictures of ships, battles and the sea for the court, the aristocracy and naval officers. After their deaths they became the model for the British marine artists who worked mainly in London in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

[Oil on canvas, 91 x 118 cm]