Portrait of an (imagined?) English ship with Justice on the transom
Painter: Willem van de Velde (I)
Year:
-
Medium: counterproof
Description: Portrait of a (fancied?) English ship with Justice on the transom. That this is a counterprint is shown, among other things, by the fact that the letters R and C and the coat of arms of England, the Stuart Royal Standard, are in mirror image. The letters should therefore be read as CR (Carolus Rex). It cannot be ruled out that this is a fantasy ship. Indeed, the drawing shows great similarities to two other reproduced counterprints of the old Van de Velde in Rotterdam, one of which bears the caption: vervolgende schepen heeft vande velde / naer eÿgen fantazÿen geordineert / & geschiert. Like the drawing in the Rijksprentenkabinet, the English fantasy ships in Rotterdam have a sculpture of Lady Justice, recognizable by sword and scales, on the transom. There are more counterprints of English ships probably conceived by Van de Velde himself. A number of these are on paper with the same watermark as the drawing described here, a mark found mainly in the second half of the 1660s, but occasionally around 1672-73. Related by Muller to the voyage to Chatham, 1667.
