ISAAC SAILMAKER: TWO Anyone taking a quick glance at the paintings below, almost certainly by Sailmaker, would surely find the glibly repeated assertion that he was a follower of the van de Veldes, "from whom all English marine painting derives", almost comical. The fact is that English marine painting owes more to Sailmaker and his ilk, than to the van de Veldes. This is not the same as saying that the van de Veldes were not the most excellent of their genre and time, just as all Dutch painting of the 17th century was without peer. It is simply that the roots and bricks of the English school are not found in their studio: they provided, on occasion and to some, though not to all, a kind of veneer or cladding. The first influx of Dutch painters, print-makers and other arts and craftsmen must have been when it was clear that England had become a Republic, and was set firm against the power of Spain, Italy, France, and the Pope. The Netherlands had long fought against Spanish domination, and England could now be seen as an ideological ally in this cause, in spite of maritime trade rivalry. Isaac would have been among the first to seek his fortune in what might then have seemed to him promising soil. The significant fact about Dutch painting was its new, totally bourgeois character --- practitioners and customers. The patrons of art were no longer the Catholic church and the royal or ducal dynasties, but ordinary men and women, the trade guilds, the town worthies. Visitors to Holland from England in the 17th century were amazed to observe that almost every home and tavern had paintings on its walls. The Restoration of 1660 would have seemed like a setback to Sailmaker, but with the departure of James II, and arrival of William III in 1689, his spirit would have lifted again after 30 years of sustained endeavour. In Early Sea Painters Cockett comments that "It would appear that his draughtsmanship and general painting ability became better after about 1675, and the period covered by the reign of William III (1689-1702) seems to have been both his best and most prolific period." It is possible to infer from Cockett's dates that Sailmaker benefited artistically from the arrival of the van de Veldes: it is also possible to suspect that the political implications of the years after 1689 benefited his industry from then on until his death in 1721. His opportunities increased as the status of the van de Veldes declined. Art of this period has to be understood in terms of religion, politics, class and market, as well as technique and style. 
Attributed to Sailmaker. Whoever may have painted it, it bears some relationship to the print, right.
Both delineator and engraver of this print bear Dutch names.
Paintings & Prints 
appears to be a very early painting. nmm
an East Indiaman; datable by the flag? nmm
Rooke's attack on Vigo Bay, 12th October, 1702. Sailmaker the most probable painter.
The Battle of Malaga: print. Soon after 1704. Inscription identifies Sailmaker.
The Battle of Malaga: oil painting. The battle took place on 13th August 1704.
NMM website
from Vertue Notebooks, The Walpole Society, Vol 1, p 74, 1930
sailmaker 1 sailmaker 2 sailmaker 3 sailmaker 4
sailmaker in sweden
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