Dune Scene with Peasant Figures

mid 1650s

Dune Scene with Peasant Figures, mid 1650s. Willem van de Velde (Dutch, c. 1611–1693). Pen and brown ink over graphite on antique laid paper; lined with tissue paper; sheet: 17.5 x 49.2 cm (6 7/8 x 19 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 2019.15 Starting life as a sailor, Willem van de Velde was soon appointed to make drawings and paintings of ships in the Dutch navy, and, in 1672, he was appointed by the English king to record English vessels and naval campaigns. In this drawing, made across two oblong sheets of a sketchbook, Van de Velde turned his eye to the beach, using chalk to capture the flat beach, grassy dunes, and small village and church steeple on the coast of Holland. He added the groupings of figures and horse-drawn carts in the foreground later with pen and ink. This artist started his career as a sailor, but when his talent was recognized, he became a draftsman and painter of naval scenes and battles in both Holland and England.