Rijksmuseum

Object data

wood, brass, mica and paint

height 51.5 cm × length 180 cm × width 40.5 cm

Conservation

Ab Hoving, 2000: minor repairs
Restauratieatelier Scheepsmodellen, 2002: rerigged

Provenance

...; Rijkswerf (Navy dockyard) Amsterdam;¹ sent to the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1818;² transferred to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-500

Entry

Fully detailed wooden construction model of the hull in two superimposed sections with loose spars and tops, mounted on a stand.

Seventy-four gun ports are indicated in three tiers. The model has five decks in total, detailed with all of the panelling and fittings, some are labelled with numbers. The beakhead has a crowned lion as a figurehead and four loose seats of ease. Carvings of a seahorse and a fish are shown between the knees of the head. The stern has a round tuck and a hollow counter with two chase ports, a taffrail and two-storey quarter galleries, fully detailed with carvings of allegorical figures, foliage and trophies. Below the stern a straight, square-headed rudder with holes for two tillers and afterpieces are specified. The steering wheel on the quarterdeck is fitted before the mizzen. The sheer rises slowly towards both ends, two wales and two sheer rails are indicated. The model has three sets of channels rigged with deadeyes. The hull is round. The interior is very detailed and has two sections that can be lifted out.

The earliest reference to the model dates from 1785, when it was brought before the Admiralty of Rotterdam in order to decide where to place the name on the ship. Many parts and compartments have been labelled, probably for instructional use. In 1818 it was transferred from Amsterdam to the Navy Model Room in The Hague.³ Obreen describes the model with its full complement of guns,⁴ and on early photographs the model was indeed fitted with all its guns and mounted on a base, but now both guns and base are missing. There is a very similar model of the Dutch 74-gun ship of the line Staten Generaal (Washington) in the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.⁵

The 74-gun ship of the line Vrijheid, 179 feet long, was built in 1782 in Amsterdam by Willem Lodewijk van Gent. Anthonie Ziesenis carved the decorations. Vrijheid was the flagship of the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Camperdown (11 October 1797) under the command of Rear Admiral Jan Willem de Winter (1761-1812) and was captured by the British after suffering severe damage and heavy losses.

Scale (derived) approx. 1:33.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 500; G.D. Bom, ‘D’Vrijheid’ 1781-1797. Geschiedenis van een vlaggeschip, Amsterdam 1897; L.G. Carr Laughton, Old Ship Figure-Heads and Sterns, London/New York 1925, pp. 55, 96; A.A. Lemmers, Techniek op schaal. Modellen en het technologiebeleid van de Marine 1725-1885, Amsterdam 1996, p. 24

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a 74-Gun Ship of the Line, Amsterdam, c. 1782', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244313

(accessed 11 January 2025 16:35:00).