Lot 133: ADAM WILLAERTS

PROPERTY FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION ANTWERP 1577 - 1664 UTRECHT THE ARRIVAL IN VLISSINGEN OF THE RECENTLY MARRIED ELECTOR PALATINE FREDERICK V AND ELIZABETH STUART signed and dated lower left: AWillarts.f.1633 oil on canvas 82.5 by 137 cm.; 32 1/2 by 54 in.

This painting depicts the arrival in Vlissingen (known in English as Flushing) in the Dutch province of Zeeland of the recently married Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James I of England. The Royal couple are depicted on board the ship, the Royal Prince flying the English royal standard. They are often referred to as the Winter King and Queen, because their reign as King and Queen of Bohemia was of short duration. Following their wedding in the Palace of Whitehall in London on St Valentine’s Day in 1613 they travelled to the Electoral palace at Heidelberg in the Palatinate via The Hague. They set sail from Margate on 25th April 1613, and arrived at Vlissingen (Flushing) on 29thApril. After they were deposed in 1620, they settled in The Hague. Willaerts was commissioned in 1622-3 to paint a series of works commemorating the Royal marriage, and these are now at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. This series includes a painting depicting The Arrival of the Elector Palatine at Flushing, 29 April 1613 which is the prototype for the present composition (see fig. 1 in the printed catalogue), although Willaerts has introduced a number of changes in the design. It is possible that the present picture was commissioned following the death of Frederick in 1632. As a widow, Elizabeth stayed in The Hague until 1660, when she went to London following the accession to the English throne of her nephew, Charles II.