ON THE MEUSE IN FRONT OF THE ADMIRALTY OF ROTTERDAM
“Kon. Willems Schip den Briel, en’t Admiraliteits jagt voor’t Oude Hoofd van Rotterdam afvaarende“. Copper engraving made by Gerard van Keulen after 1688. Original hand colouring with gold highlights and later additions. Size: (platemark): 51,5 x 60 cm.
View of the Nieuwe Maas from the southeast, showing from left to right the Nieuwe Werk (Muizenpolder) de Boompjes, Admiraliteitshof (demolished 1884) and the Ooster Oudehoofdpoort (demolished 1856). On the quay is a yacht of the Rotterdam Admiralty.
In the sloop at the front left Stadholder William III. He is being taken to his ship Den Briel with which he will sail to Hellevoetsluis. There lay the naval port of the Admiralty from where he will then leave for England for the so-called Glorious Revolution. More than 14,000 Dutch troops, supplemented by expelled French Huguenots, English and Scottish volunteers (a total of 21,000 men, 5,000 horses and more than 50 guns) were loaded onto 400 transport ships in late October 1688, which would be accompanied by more than 50 warships.
William would become king of England in 1689.
When William left for England, engraver Gerard van Keulen was only 10 years old. He must have made this print a few years later. Gerard made the Van Keulen firm famous. He took over his father Johannes‘s map publishing business in 1715 and obtained for himself and his heirs the privilege of being employed as a mapmaker by the Dutch East India Company.
Price: Euro 3,450
