Lot 106: View of the River Maas at Dordrecht

Josua de Grave (Amsterdam 1643-1712 The Hague) View of the River Maas at Dordrecht signed 'J. De Grave' and inscribed and dated 'Tot Dordrecht: 1672: 8:M 29:d:' pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash, pen and brown ink framing lines 4 1/8 x 6¼ in. (103 x 158 mm.)

B. Suermondt (L. 415).
with C.G. Boerner, Düsseldorf.
with E. & R. Kistner, Nuremberg, 1975.

Josua de Grave saw military service in the army of Stadholder-King William III of Orange, accompanying him on his campaigns against the French in the Southern Netherlands in 1672-76. This peaceful view of Dordrecht, dated 29 August 1672, would have been drawn when de Grave and the Royal party were in Brabant inspecting defences following King Louis XIV's capture of Den Bosch on 29 July. A drawing by King William's secretary Constantijn Huygens of the village of Oisterwijk, 35 miles to the south east of Dordrecht, dated 24 August 1672, is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (J.F. Heijbroek et al., Met Huygens op reis, Amsterdam, 1982, no. 20).