The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 24, 2025

Dune Scene with Peasant Figures

mid-1650s

Willem van de Velde

(Dutch, c. 1611–1693)
Netherlands
pen and brown ink over graphite on antique laid paper; lined with tissue paper
Support: 28.9 x 58.7 cm (11 3/8 x 23 1/8 in.); Matted: 36.2 x 60.5 x 0.5 cm (14 1/4 x 23 13/16 x 3/16 in.); Image: 17.5 x 49.5 cm (6 7/8 x 19 1/2 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2019.15
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This artist started his career as a sailor, but when his talent was recognized, he became a draftsman and painter of naval scenes and battles in both Holland and England.

Description

Starting life as a sailor, Willem van de Velde was soon appointed to make drawings and paintings of ships in the Dutch navy, and, in 1672, he was appointed by the English king to record English vessels and naval campaigns. In this drawing, made across two oblong sheets of a sketchbook, Van de Velde turned his eye to the beach, using chalk to capture the flat beach, grassy dunes, and small village and church steeple on the coast of Holland. He added the groupings of figures and horse-drawn carts in the foreground later with pen and ink.
  • Private Collection, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    March 4, 2019
    the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • National Maritime Museum (Great Britain), Willem van de Velde, and Willem van de Velde. Van De Velde Drawings; A Catalogue of Drawings in the National Maritime Museum Made by the Elder and the Younger Willem Van De Velde. Cambridge [England]: University Press, 1958. vol. 2, cat. no. 774-78, p. 5-6, no. 779-89, p. 6-7
    Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen, Willem van de Velde, and Willem van de Velde. The Willem Van De Velde Drawings in the Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam. Rotterdam: Museum Boymans-van Beuningen Foundation, 1979. vol. 2, p. 14-15
    Daaider, Remmelt. Van de Velde & zoon, zeeschilders: het bedrijf van Willem van de Velde de Oude en Willem van de Velde de Jonge, 1640-1707. Leiden: Primavera Pers, 2016
  • {{cite web|title=Dune Scene with Peasant Figures|url=false|author=Willem van de Velde|year=mid-1650s|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.15