Simon de Vlieger (Rotterdam c. 1601-1653 Weesp)
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Simon de Vlieger (Rotterdam c. 1601-1653 Weesp)

The squadron of Admiral Maarten van Tromp preparing to make sail, the flagship Aemilia firing a salute for the Admiral in his barge

Details
Simon de Vlieger (Rotterdam c. 1601-1653 Weesp)
The squadron of Admiral Maarten van Tromp preparing to make sail, the flagship Aemilia firing a salute for the Admiral in his barge
oil on panel
17 7/8 x 27 7/8 in. (45.5 x 70.9 cm.)
Provenance
In the family of the present owner since circa 1950.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

This extremely well-preserved panel depicts the fleet of one of the greatest of Dutch heroes, Admiral Maarten Hapertsz. van Tromp (1598-1653), painted by one of the greatest of Dutch marine artists, Simon de Vlieger. We are very grateful to Professor Jan Kelch for confirming the attribution and for identifying the Aemilia.

Arguably the most important Dutch marine painter of the first half of the seventeenth century, little is known of de Vlieger's early career, although his paintings of the 1620s and 1630s reveal a clear debt to Jan Porcellis. By the 1640s he had evolved his own style, recognisable for its silvery light, cool palette and strong draughtsmanship. De Vlieger formed a link between the second and third generations of Dutch marine painters, influencing Willem van de Velde II, who worked in his studio at Weesp, as well as Hendrick Dubbels and Jan van de Cappelle, who probably also worked there.

The Aemilia was built at Rotterdam in 1636 for the Admiralty of the Maze, as a two-decked frigate of some 600 tons built with the standard full-bellied hull able to navigate the shallow Dutch waters; she carried a crew of about 200 and forty-six guns. Especially built for convoy or blockade duty in the English Channel and North Sea, she was the first Dutch warship with two decks, built with large provision and powder rooms, to enable her to remain at sea for periods of up to four months at a time. Originally the flagship of Lieutenant Admiral Philips van Dorp, after his dismissal in 1634 her command passed to Van Tromp; the Aemilia's Captain for most of her career was Barend Barendsz. Cramers.

Born at Brielle in the south of Holland in 1597, Tromp first went to sea at the age of eight, although he only entered the Dutch Navy in 1622; thereafter, his rise was rapid and, in 1637 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch fleet. At the time, the United Provinces were still engaged in their battle for independence from the Spanish, and Tromp's most famous victory was against a combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet at the Battle of the Downs in 1639. Faced by seventy-five sail (including the Santa Teresa of sixty-eight guns) and 21,000 fighting men, Tromp had his Aemilia and sixteen other ships with fewer than 2,000 men. The first engagement took place off Beachy Head on 16 September, Tromp using the same skirmishing tactics that the English had employed against the first Armada, resulting in a Dutch victory with the enemy fleet withdrawing to the Downs. On 21 October he struck again, utterly routing the Spanish and Portuguese: only nine out of their seventy-five ships escaped (the casualties including the Santa Teresa which caught fire and exploded), and 7,000 men were lost, against Tromp's casualties of 100 men and no ships. In that single victory, Tromp ended for ever Spain's dominance of the seas.

Tromp's victory was such as to place him for ever amongst the greatest naval strategists of history. Too much was demanded of him, however, in the first Anglo-Dutch War of 1652-4. The war began poorly for the Dutch, suffering a minor defeat against the English Admiral Blake, a defeat reversed that November when Tromp brilliantly succeeded in leading a fleet through the Straits of Dover. A few months later, in February 1653, he attempted to repeat that triumph, but was thwarted by a combined English fleet under Blake, Penn and Monk who engaged him in a running battle from Portland to Calais Sands. The following June, he lost seventeen of his ships to the English and in July faced them again at the battle of Terheijde; there, he was mortally wounded in the breast by a musket shot. His last words as he fell were: 'Houdt geode, mijn kinderen! Met mij is bet gedaan!' ('Keep good courage, my children! With me it is done!').

Like many of his contemporaries, De Vlieger had a fondness for depicting real subjects in his paintings - one might consider, for example, his Battle on the Slaak between the Dutch and Spanish fleets of 1633 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), or his State Yacht on the Maas at the the Oude Hoofdpoort of 1642 (St. Petersburg, Hermitage); the latter picture also features the Aemilia, depicting as it does the festive welcome given to William II on his return from his London wedding in 1641. That fondness is more apparent in de Vlieger's earlier career, but there are later examples, for example the Disembarkation of Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange of 1649 (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum).

The present work is similarly dated by Professor Kelch to the late 1640s. From a historical perspective, the date of the Battle of the Downs might be taken as a terminus post quem for depictions of Tromp within such a context; in addition, however, the beautfully controlled palette displayed in this picture, permeated with its silvery tonality is typical of that found in his finest works of that period. His confident handling of paint can be seen not only in this masterful restraint, however, but also in such subtleties as the reflections of the distant boats, lightly incised with the end of the brush rather than painted on the surface, the accurate depictions of the sailors on the yards unfurling sails, or setting the stunsails in the calm (seen fully unfurled in the distant ship).

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