A view of the Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart, the Naval College, on the IJ-canal, nowadays the Prins Hendrikkade, Amsterdam

The Amsterdam ‘Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart’ was founded in December 1784 and provided a practical and theoretical education in naval service to boys in the aged ten to sixteen. Knowledge of ship and rigging, naval artillery, helmsmanship but also arithmetic, English and Bible studies were taught. In the courtyard of the school stood the so-called 'scheepje', a large model ship upon which the pupils learnt how to rig a ship.

This view is largely based on an engraving dedicated to William Titsingh, the founder of the school, of 1784 by Cornelis Brouwer after a design by Jan Bulthuis. A very similar painting, with differences in staffage and foliage, has been attributed to Cornelis Kruyff (Amsterdam 1774-1828) and was offered with Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, 25 February 1941, lot 44. Another picture by a different hand is recorded in the collection Vaderlandsch Fonds.

HENRIJ THEODOOR COX (1868-1935)
Henrij Th. Cox was an intellectual, entrepreneur, lieutenant at sea and a writer. He was the co-founder of several companies in the ports of Amsterdam, such as the Amsterdamsch Havenbedrijf and the Nederlandsche Steenkolen Handelmaatschappij. As was one of the directors of the Hollandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij, the Dutch Steamboat Company, he governed from Amsterdam scheduled shipping services to various British, European and West-African ports. Cox was an avid sailor and a passionate researcher of Napoleon. In 1916 his book Napoleon krijgsgevangen : historie en legende was published. Born in Batavia as the son of a celebrated businessman, Cox moved as a young boy to The Netherlands, where he grew up surrounded by Asian works of art collected by his parents in the Indies. He himself started collecting with the help of connoisseur and collector Frits Lugt and held a particular fondness for maritime subjects. By the end of his lifetime his collection comprised of works by eminent masters of the Dutch Golden Age such as Willem van de Velde, Lieven Verschuier, Willem Kalf, Aert van der Neer, Aelbert Cuyp, Jan Siberechts and Willem Claesz. Heda amongst others.