ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM VAN DER HAGEN (FL. 1720-1745)
King William III off the coast of Ireland, June 1690, with an English Royal Yacht and the Lord High Admiral’s First-rate Flying the Royal...

ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM VAN DER HAGEN (FL. 1720-1745)
King William III off the coast of Ireland, June 1690, with an English Royal Yacht and the Lord High Admiral’s First-rate Flying the Royal Standard
Oil on canvas, 85.8 x 142.9 cm 

The yacht is inscribed on the stern in Latin with the initials of the King and Queen: “W(illiam) R(ex)” and “M(aria) R(egina)

 

King William III set sail for Ireland with the English fleet in the second week of June 1690, arriving off Carrickfergus on 14 June. Here he landed before proceeding to Belfast where he took command of his army and marched towards Drogheda. On the 30 June he faced the combined French and Irish armies of King James II across the River Boyne, where the battle and subsequent rout of the Jacobite army took place the following day. William himself was slightly wounded in the battle, which was the keystone event in securing the Protestant ascendancy for many years to come. It also effectively marked the end of King James's hopes of re-establishing himself on the English throne. After proceeding to Dublin where he entered the city in triumph, William advanced against Limerick, but failed to convert his siege there into capitulation. He returned from County Cork in July after less than two months of campaigning with his throne effectively safe from further opposition.

The present painting, which dates from about 1730, is best judged as a ‘fancy’ picture to the extent that it does not rely on an eye-witness account by the artist. Nor indeed was topographical accuracy what viewers of such works demanded. What the painting does is symbolically celebrate the victory of the House of Orange over the Stuart kings in Ireland.

In 1728, William Van der Hagen was employed to paint a series of six Irish views for Robert Baillie which were to be reproduced in tapestry. All of the subjects were to be taken from King William's campaign in 1690, but in the event only two were completed, The Defence of Derry and The Battle of the Boyne. These are still preserved in what was the chamber of the Irish House of Lords, now the Bank of Ireland on College Green. However, he did paint a series of such pictures for other patrons, including King William Landing at Carrickfergus (Ulster Museum), and numerous other topographical and fancy landscapes are recorded in historic Irish collections.

In the present painting, the richly gilded Royal Yacht in the foreground is flying the pennant which from 1660 indicated that the ship was under independent, rather than fleet, command. Here it is in the personal service of the monarch. The large first-rate on the right-hand side of the composition is flying on its mainmast the Royal Standard of William III which was in use between 1689 and 1702, whilst the fore flies the Admiralty and Lord High Admiral's flag, with its motif of a gold anchor and rope. At the stern is the senior ensign of the Royal Navy (in use from 1625 to 1707) and the stern mast flies the ‘jack’ of the Royal Navy which was in service from the same dates. All this indicates the presence on board of the king himself and the commander of his navy, the Lord High Admiral.

In the left foreground the small boat flies the red, white and blue striped Dutch ‘Double Prince’ flag of the Amsterdam Admiralty, which is painted in close contiguity with the naval ‘jack’ flying from the round tower on shore, emphasising thereby the Anglo-Dutch alliance.

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