0:1: Comp: schip candia zeylende by de wind

Gerrit Groenewegen was a Dutch marine artist, draughtsman, and printmaker whose work focused on ships, harbour scenes, and maritime life. This engraving belongs to the series Verscheide Soorten Hollandse Scheepen, (# link) a set of twelve ship portraits representing different types of Dutch vessels. The series forms part of a broader late eighteenth-century print culture in which ship types were recorded, classified, and presented as objects of technical and national maritime interest.

The print depicts the Candia, a three-masted Dutch East India Company vessel shown under full sail. The inscription identifies the ship as O: I: Comp: schip Candia zeylende by de wind — “East India Company ship Candia, sailing by the wind.” The letter “E” appears at lower left, while the number “12” appears at lower right, indicating the print’s place within the series.

The Candia sailed for the East Indies in 1789 but did not return to the Netherlands. The print therefore records not only a type of VOC vessel, but also a named ship connected with the final decades of Dutch East India Company maritime activity. Its careful presentation of rigging, sails, and profile reflects Groenewegen’s interest in the accurate depiction of ship form and handling.

Within the collection, this print is closely connected with other maritime and navigational works that show the material culture of seafaring, including Gietermaker’s Dutch navigation manual (342) and the sea charts of Pieter Goos (307and 466). Together, these works connect the skills of navigation, printed hydrography, and the ships that carried Dutch trade across Asian and Pacific waters.