File:A First-Rate RMG BHC0983.tiff

An unfinished composition closely relating to a painting of the 'Royal Sovereign' by Willem van de Velde the Younger (BHC3614), which is thought to commemorate an event at Spithead on 4 June 1702 when Prince George of Denmark dined on board with the Duke of Ormonde. In Woodcock's picture the first-rate shown on the left may be the 'Royal William', at anchor and becalmed.

The artist has adapted the ships shown in van de Velde's painting by altering the nationality of the flags and the appearance of the sterns. On the principal ship the Royal Standard is implied flying at the main, the Admiralty flag at the fore, the Union flag at the mizzen and the red ensign at the stern. The red ensign is different from van de Velde's because it is the post-1707 patterns with the St George's cross and St Andrew's cross superimposed on a blue ground in the upper quadrant. The ship is firing a salute to port and a number of figures are visible on the deck and in the rigging. A carved anchor is prominently positioned on the stern above the rudder. There are a number of ships in the far distance. In the left foreground a ship's boat or barge approaches the 'Royal William's' stern where there are two other boats on the port quarter and two on the starboard quarter. In the centre foreground is a fishing pink with her square sail lowered and two people on board. Next to it is a skiff or wherry alongside. Further away on the right is one of the ketch-rigged royal yachts in port-bow view, which may be the 'Isabella'. A ship's boat or barge is leaving her starboard-bow, pulling towards the 'Royal William'

The artist was a clerk in the Admiralty with a keen interest in ships. By the age of 30 he is known to have been painting in oils. He admired the van de Veldes and made a number of copies of their work. This is an example in which Woodcock may have van de Velde the Younger's composition as an aid to portraying a similar event when the 'Royal William' was present at a royal visit to the fleet, such as one in 1705. His close parallels with van de Velde indicate that he must have known him and seen his work at first hand. At the time of his death Woodcock had not entirely escaped his influence to develop a distinctive style of his own. The Willem van de Veldes, father and son, came to England in 1672-73. The younger man's preferred subject matter was royal yachts, men-of-war and storm scenes. Unlike his father's pictures of sea battles, those he undertook after his arrival in England were not usually eyewitness accounts. However, after his father's death in 1693 he became an official marine painter and was obliged to be present at significant maritime events. This painting is signed and dated 'R.Woodcock. 1715', bottom right.