Contact gallery for price		Willem van de Velde, II 1633 Leiden - Greenwich 1707 Dutch Ships in a Fresh Breeze off the Coast Oil on panel 29 1/2 x 41 3/4 inches Signed and dated: W.V.V.f 48 Literature: M.S. Robinson, A Catalogue of the Paintings of The Elder and the Younger Willem van de Velde, volume II, 1990, pp. 718-719, plate no: 825 Willem van de Velde came from one of the greatest seventeenth century family of Dutch  masters;  his father, Willem van de Velde I (1611-1693), was a first rate draughtsman of marines whose love of the sea and ships was inherited by his youngest son.  Adriaen van de Velde (1636-1672) was Willem II's older brother who excelled in the pastoral landscape.  Willem II was influenced by his father but, especially in the early part of his career, also heavily by his contemporary seascape artists, Simon de Vlieger and Abraham van Beyeren.  His early works are highly finished and carefully crafted and as he matured, his style broadened and he achieved his effects with more economy of brushstrokes; his palette  changed from the earlier predominant grey and blues to the warmer browns of his English period.  Willem II was also a draughtsman throughout his career and he continuously executed highly detailed renderings of ships and scenes as studies for his paintings.  Willem van de Velde II enjoyed enormous success in his lifetime, with royal patronage from King Charles II of England.  Our painting is a remarkable example by the master from his early period and in fact, it is one of the earliest dated known works; the artist was an astonishing fifteen years of age when he completed this example.  Our marine painting documents the extent to which van de Velde was influenced by Vlieger and van Beyeren when he first executed large scale works and which indicated his developing genius.  With the land still visible at the left background, the ships set sail for chartered territories on a turbulent sea with white-capped waves and billowy grey clouds above.  The ship in the left foreground has been identified as either a galjoot or a wijdschip, port bow view.  On the right is a small ship starboard, bow view, and is under the fore course and mizzen. This smaller ship is sailing the common Dutch flag at the main.  Finally, in the far distance on the right of the picture plane, is another faljoot or wijdschip; less visibly, the sails of a few more ships can be spotted.  The boats tilt and turn and thus heighten the impending stormy atmosphere, though a shaft of sunlight falls across the area between the two ships from the left of the picture.  The Dutch coast is shown in the left distance with fishing pinks on the shore; a square tower is also indicated in the dunes, probably the church tower of Egmond aan Zee.  Our composition is rendered with precise brushstrokes and fine details, especially notable in the water's splashes of white-wash, meticulous rigging on the ship masts and wind blown sails.