Charles William Meredith VAN DE VELDE
(Leeuwarden, 1818 – The Hague, 1898)
View of the Vintimille Shore with the Old Town, the Fort, and the Nervia Valley
Watercolor on paper mounted on Japanese paper within a false margin.
Signed lower right.
251 mm x 368 mm – 9 7/8 x 14 1/2 in.
Charles William Meredith van de Velde was a Dutch naval officer, cartographer, painter, and watercolorist. Trained at the Naval Academy in Medemblik, he traveled extensively in Indonesia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean region of Europe. Renowned for the topographical accuracy of his surveys, he published several lithographed albums illustrating his travels (notably in the Holy Land) and strove to faithfully capture the geography, architecture, and light of the places he visited.
This sheet reflects van de Velde’s dual training as a hydrographer and artist, combining the rigor of topographic drawing with the fluid, luminous style characteristic of mid-19th-century watercolor.
It depicts a view taken from the mouth of the Roya/Nervia River toward the promontory of Ventimiglia (Italy). In the foreground, a rocky and sandy shore borders the water, where a few masted boats are moored. The composition rises in the middle ground toward the old town of Ventimiglia (Ventimiglia Alta), clinging to the hillside and dominated by its historic fortifications and the cathedral’s bell tower. In the background, the contours of the Maritime Alps stand out against a clear sky.
Van de Velde’s watercolors and lithographs of Mediterranean and Oriental landscapes are held in several Dutch institutional collections, notably at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Maritiem Museum in Rotterdam.
Condition: Very good condition.
