Lot 494: Isaac Sailmaker (Scheveningen 1633-1721 London)

A flagship arriving in the Thames off Greenwich Hospital amidst anchored craft and other shipping on the river
oil on canvas, in a carved and gilded frame
30 x 42 in. (76.2 x 106.8 cm.)
See front cover illustration, detail

H.P. Kops.
Anonymous Sale: Christie's, London, 17 November 1976, lot 113 (sold for £2,940).

Almost a mirror image of Sailmaker's similar view of the Thames at Greenwich shown in F.B. Cockett's Early Sea Painters, 1660-1730, p. 31, plate 6, there are nevertheless several significant differences in the above work, one in particular which points to it being of a slightly earlier date. Like the Cockett painting, the work offered here clearly shows the spire of Greenwich parish church which collapsed in 1681 although it does not show the hilltop Observatory, begun by Sir Christopher Wren in 1675, both of which together confirm that the Cockett illustration must have been executed between those two dates. In fact, Cockett notes three earlier versions of the work, including this one [no. 2, p. 34] in which the overall scene is far more animated, with additional small craft in the river and with a superbly detailed rendition of the flagship's stern compared to the bow view in the later composition. The two Admiralty or possibly royal yachts in this version, one at anchor in the foreground, the other sailing up-river, add yet further colour to what is a most attractive and early example from this artist's oeuvre.

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