A shipyard

Details

Adam Willaerts (Antwerpen 1577-1644 Utrecht)
A shipyard
signed with monogram 'A·W·' (lower left)
oil on panel
39.2 x 30 cm.

Provenance

D.M. van Moppes, sale; Christie's, London, 28 June 1974, lot 45.
With S. Nijstad, The Hague, 1975.

Literature

J. Briels, Vlaamse Schilders in de Noordelijke Nederlanden in het begin van de Gouden Eeuw 1585-1630, Haarlem, 1987, pp. 388-9, fig. 509.
R. van Gelder and L. van Wagenaar, Sporen van de Compagnie, de VOC in Nederland, Amsterdam, 1988, p. 16, illustrated.
J. Giltaij and J. Kelch, Lof der Zeevaart, De Hollandse zeeschilders van de 17e eeuw, Rotterdam, 1996, pp. 120-1, no. 14, illustrated.

Exhibited

Rotterdam, Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Lof der Zeevaart, De Hollandse zeeschilders van de 17e eeuw, 1996, pp. 120-1, no. 14, illustrated.

Special notice

Christie's charge a premium to the buyer on the final bid price of each lot sold at the following rates: 23.8% of the final bid price of each lot sold up to and including €150,000 and 14.28% of any amount in excess of €150,000. Buyers' premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Lot Essay

With this historical document on ship building in the first half of the 17th Century Willaerts depicted the economic peak of the trade and fishing-industry in the Northern Provinces.

In the past the picture has been attributed to both Adam and his son Abraham Willaerts. The large pigeon-loft on the left can be found in various pictures attributed to Abraham. Dr Giltaij (loc. cit., p. 120) is of the opinion that an attribution to Adam is more likely; he dates the picture to circa 1630.

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