Lot 138: Pieter Coopse (active 1642 -1673)

A Dutch threemaster and other shipping in a stiff breeze with Middelburg, Flushing and Fort Rammekens in the distance oil on canvas 83.4 x 118.2 cm. NOTES The present sea-scape includes a view of three distinctive features of seventeenth-century Zeeland. Zeeland was known for its ties with the V.O.C., the main ports being of great importance to the company. Clearly visible on the left is the provincial capital town of Middelburg. On the horizon, in the centre of the painting, one can just about discern the spires of Flushing. On the far right the distinctive outline of Fort Rammekens is seen. This fort was built in 1547 by order of Mary of Hungary, a younger sister of Charles V who reigned the Netherlands on behalf of him. Interestingly, an Italian architect constructed the fort. It was designed originally to serve as a check-point for the harbours of Middelburg and Antwerp. The V.O.C. however used it as an anchorage and a last standing-place for their sailors, before they left the shore. For the attribution compare with A view of Flushing, signed with monogram, on canvas, 99 x 134.6cm., Trafalgar Galleries, London, 1999, and with the picture A view of Den Briel signed with monogram, on canvas, 80 x 128cm, sold P. Brandt, Amsterdam, 11/14 March 1967, lot 16, ill. (photographs recorded in the RKD). We are grateful to S. Giepemans of the RKD for confirming the attribution, on the basis of a photograph.