”Ectypoma classis bis mille octingentarum navium Ductore Illustrissimo Principe Mauritio Nassovio in Flandriam appulsae. XXII. Juny. M.VI.C.” (Image of the fleet of 2,800 ships under the command of the most illustrious Prince Maurice of Nassau, arrived in Flanders on June 22, 1600.) Copper engraving (possibly) made by Robert de Baudoes after a drawing by Hendrik Cornelisz Vroom and published by Claes Jansz. Visscher. Size: 38.8 x 98.6 cm.
In 1600, the Netherlands was embroiled in the Eighty Years’ War.
This impressive engraving shows the landing of the fleet of Prince Maurice of Orange at Philippine in Flanders, an event preceding the famous Battle of Nieuwpoort in July 1600. It was created on behalf of the States General and dedicated to Prince Maurice. The drawing and print earned Vroom a substantial income. For the commission of the drawing, he received a payment of 150 guilders from the States General in November 1600. A year later, the city council of Haarlem rewarded the artist with 60 pounds for his donation of several copies of the engraving. For the prints he offered to the States of Holland, he was paid 100 pounds. It is assumed that other Dutch cities, as well as possibly Prince Maurice himself, also acquired copies of the engraving from the artist.
Vroom made the drawing shortly after the landing at Philippine took place. In May 1600, Prince Maurice, as commander-in-chief of the Dutch army, received orders from the States General to launch a campaign along the coast of Flanders to eliminate Flemish privateers, who were based in Dunkirk and were causing significant damage to Dutch merchant and fishing fleets. A second goal was to capture Dunkirk from the Spaniards. This mission required a large-scale and risky military expedition into enemy territory, as the Flemish coast, with the exception of Ostend, was in Spanish hands, and Maurice undertook the campaign reluctantly. The siege of Dunkirk could only begin after the more northerly town of Nieuwpoort had been captured. To maintain control of both towns, a large military force had to be stationed in Flanders.
Vroom’s depiction illustrates the beginning of this military expedition. Movement of the troops were to take place mostly by water and partly over land. By mid-June, Maurice had assembled an unprecedented force at Rammekens fortress on Walcheren. On June 19, about 1,300 ships were ready to transport approximately 13,000 infantry soldiers, 2,700 cavalry, and 2,300 support personnel to Flanders. Due to unfavorable winds, the fleet did not sail directly to the Flemish coast as initially planned, but instead moved southeast over the Western Scheldt. They landed at the fortified town of Philippine in Zeelandic Flanders on June 21 and 22, 1600, to march overland through Flanders toward Nieuwpoort. Even members of the States General accompanied the expedition, urged by Maurice, as they hoped to collect contributions from Flemish villages and towns along the way. Their presence likely contributed to the decision to commemorate the landing at Philippine with this print.
The event is depicted on two joined sheets of paper. A vast number of ships, with a tightly packed mass of sails and masts in the distance, emphasizes the enormous scale of this military operation. Notable is the large number of inland vessels hired by the Dutch army to transport military equipment and supplies. The ship in the center of the left sheet, surrounded by others, with a large flag bearing a coat of arms on the mast and a large lantern on the stern, is Prince Maurice’s yacht. In the background, on the left sheet, the fortifications of Philippine are depicted, showing a camp and troop movements. From there, Maurice’s soldiers march inland along a dike. The background shows the Zeelandic-Flanders coastline, from Sas van Gent on the left to IJzendijke and Biervliet on the far right.
Vroom’s illustration of this celebrated event is impressive evidence of the importance of sea power to Prince Maurice. The soldiers organizing into companies on land are a tiny albeit important patch in the scene. Their discipline is paralleled by the large congested fleet manoeuvring in the foreground. Vroom’s characteristic bird’s eye view encompasses the action which is restricted by the distant strip of land, yet the vantage point is actually much lower. The distant land assumes substance and depth; it is no longer simply a dangling curtain. Confluence of land and sea occurs harmoniously and establishes a dynamic interaction that supports and enlivens the subject. Ships no longer seem placed on the sea’s surface but displace it; they do not zip across the water in an essentially cartographic manner like cardboard cut-outs, but plough through the sea.
Vroom confronted a new challenge because the subject did not represent colliding forces, but depicted one fleet unified in purpose performing a relatively static function. Like any sailor, Vroom knew that ships, even in ‘still’ formation, continue to move. Like bridled horses these vessels must be kept under strict control. Here lies the secret of this brilliant scene: its constrained energy. With the low viewing point the ships seem to enter into the viewer’s space. Their immediate presence is palpable. Vroom further dramatized the event by intentionally cutting off the invasionary fleet at the right, implying that we only witness its core.
This work of art is of inestimable importance. As an invention it transformed Dutch marine painting. Hendrik Vroom arrived at an essentially modern solution in this representation of a decisive contemporary event. That the Philippine/Nieuwpoort campaign was principally advocated by the States General explains why this political body should have commissioned Vroom to design a commemorative print of one of its most spectacular accomplishments. Vroom produced a forceful and inventive masterpiece with few models to rely upon. His accurate description and narrative skill brilliantly merge in this scene. Hendrik Vroom’s contemporaries could follow his example, but never attain the balance between clarity and dramatic content which distinguishes his art.
Vroom’s meticulous rendering of each object dictates the nature of his draughtsmanship. Despite the forest of ship masts there is a pervasive sense of order governing this fleet. Vroom represents the solidity of ships by compact, parallel, curved hatching that evokes plasticity and weight. Sails and rigging are also precisely rendered. Water is depicted by similar hatched or hooked lines in patches that are occasionally connected by nervous squiggles. Even this calm sea restlessly laps against the boats and produces foam when they cut through the waves.
He usually explores light effects by representing a strong raking light contrasting with shadow. Detail can be remarkably subtle: for example the boats cruising about the foreground which actually reflect in the water, the puffs of smoke and the innumerable sailors and soldiers aboard each vessel. The distant coastal plain of Flanders with its beach fortifications is also impressively rendered. Such accuracy finds analogies in the topographical engravings of Pieter Bast and Claes Jansz. Visscher.
Hendrik Cornelisz Vroom (1562-1640) was the leading figure in the first phase of Dutch marine painting and is justly considered its father. He began his career at the opportune moment when there were virtually no practitioners in this still embryonic field. He was also a gifted artist and was able to exploit his marine expertise with a conviction and imagination which his patrons readily recognized. In representing ships Hendrik’s accuracy was legendary.
Hendrik succeeded in dominating marine painting in the first twenty years of its evolution.
Literature:
- Frederik Muller (1863-1882) “Nederlandsche historieplaten”, no. 1132 (“extremely rare print”).
- Atlas Van Stolk “De Nederlandse geschiedenis in beeld”, no. 1081
- Hollstein’s Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450 – 1700, vol. XLIX, no. 1
- Martina Russell (1983) “Visions of the sea : Hendrick C. Vroom and the origins of Dutch marine painting”, pp 145/46, figs. 132a-b
- George Keyes (1975) “Cornelis Vroom. Marine and landscape artist”, vol. I pp. 24-25.
Price: 16.500,-
