Ships and flutes sailing out from a fjord, probably Flekker, Norway<br><p>A port-bow view of about fifteen ships, most of them flutes (fluyts), running out from a narrow fjord under topsails, with rocks on either side. The leading vesel is a flute but closely followed by a ship with a flag at the main, which may be the commodore. The artist's pencil inscription, top left, reads 'no 2 vleckeren en de schepen uijt komen' (No. 2 Vlecher and the ships coming out). This is probably Flekker, 35 miles east of the Naze on the southern coast of  Norway. The particular incident is unidentified. It may be a drawing of something before 1641 done to illustrate one of 'severall Campagnes of ye old Prices of Orange' (PRO, Kew; State Papers 29, 400). However, van de Velde may have seen such sights often on voyages to the Norwegian coast. 
</p><p>The drawing is signed and dated 'WVV1641', in pencil, and bears the ink inscription 'by Vanderveldt' at the top in an 18th century hand.<br></p>
Ships and flutes sailing out from a fjord, probably Flekker, Norway
<div class="fn value">
Willem Van de Velde, the Elder</div>
1641<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1641-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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