...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-283

Polychromed wooden half bracket or block model, fully planked, of the starboard side of a three-masted ship, mounted on a rectangular wooden backboard painted white.

The side of the ship is fully planked and is painted black, with two white bands spanning the gun deck and main deck. The upper deck, quarterdeck and poop are closed. Forty-eight shadowed gun ports are indicated in three tiers. The forecastle, quarterdeck and poop are detailed with square hances. The sheer rises slightly towards both ends. Two wales and a sheer rail are indicated. The bow features a fully detailed beakhead, without its figurehead, a beakhead bulkhead and a platform, a black knighthead and a cathead. The stern is round and the elaborately decorated taffrail has two storeys and a semi-circular stern gallery at the middle level. The upper storey has a sternwalk above the gallery, bearing the coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and is supported by decorated knees. The helm port and a straight, square-headed rudder are specified below the stern gallery. The taffrail is carved with foliage and the monogram of Willem I is marked in a crowned cartouche surrounded by trophies. The hull is round and painted a metallic copper colour below the waterline, but the stern is very sharp. The position of three masts and the bowsprit is shown in a truncated form.

Left and right of the hull just below the waterline two small square holes can be seen, possibly for mounting a metal leg.

The model was built in Flushing and probably completed in 1836. It was sent back to Flushing to be painted in 1847. The 84-gun ship of the line Neptunus, 57.80 metres long, was built by Cornelis Soetermeer (1782-1842) in Flushing in 1821-35.¹¹J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 283. Neptunus was the last three-decker in the Dutch Navy. Renamed Koning der Nederlanden in 1844, the ship was converted to a floating battery of 32 guns and renamed Neptunus in 1858-60. Neptunus was decommissioned in 1876.²²A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 3.

Scale (on model) 1:50.

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 283; B.J. Tideman, Memoriaal van de Marine, bevattende opgaven betrekkelijk de afmetingen, constructie, ... van Nederlandsche oorlogsschepen en omtrent enige havens, dokken, sluizen, werven enz., Amsterdam 1876-80, 2de afd., p. 8; Catalogus Rijksmuseum Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1943, p. 43 no. 70; A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 3; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 142-45

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Rijkswerf Vlissingen, Half Model of an 84-Gun Ship of the Line, Flushing, c. 1836', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200315761