![Payne, John, The true portraicture of His Ma[jes]ties. royall ship the Soveraigne of the Seas built in the yeare 1637, S.a. [ca. 1637/38]. [London]. Peter Pett.](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/hsrarebooks/images/view/73bbf36a0b9983f28e812e4b054451dej/hsrarebooks-payne-john-the-true-portraicture-of-his-ma-jes-ties.-royall-ship-the-soveraigne-of-the-seas-built-in-the-yeare-1637-s.a.-ca.-1637-38-.-london-.-peter-pett..jpg)
Payne, John
The true portraicture of His Ma[jes]ties. royall ship the Soveraigne of the Seas built in the yeare 1637, S.a. [ca. 1637/38]. [London]. Peter Pett.
Striking English engraving of the 17th century warship the “Sovereign of the Seas”, the largest English print of the first half of the century
Huge and truly magnificent English engraving of the first half of the 17th century, “by far the largest English engraving to survive from the first half of the century (five other impressions are known)” (British Museum comment of the curator).
Huge and truly magnificent English engraving of the first half of the 17th century, “by far the largest English engraving to survive from the first half of the century (five other impressions are known)” (British Museum comment of the curator).
$ 34,000.00
Large engraving (665 x 910 mm), printed from two plates on two sheets, assembled to make a single print. With title in English at top and a slightly different Latin title across the foot (both outside the image), and two decorated cartouches with laudatory verses in the upper corners.
This large and exceptionally rare engraving depicts the English warship Sovereign of the Seas, shown in full sail, flying 5 flags and more than a dozen pennons. With her more than 1500 tons and over 100 guns, she surpassed all her contemporaries in size and gun power and cost about ten times as much as an average naval gunship. Besides being “one of the best known naval prints belonging to the seventeenth century ... extraordinarily rich of detail and of the greatest possible interest” (Chatterton), it is also by far the largest English engraved view to survive from the first half of the century. For the engraving, Payne had, most likely, access to the builder's draughts and plans and must have collaborated with Peter Pett for the engraving to be as representative of the ship as possible.
In its comments, the BL continues “The explanation for these prints lies in the pride and significance attached to the flagships of national fleets… The Sovereign displaced 1637 tons, was 254 feet long and was armed with 144 guns. It cost £65,586 16s 9d, about ten times more than an average naval gun-ship. £7000 was spent on the elaborate carved decoration… Evelyn saw it at Chatham and noted in his diary on 19 July 1641: '... a monstrous vessel ... being for burthen, defense and ornament the richest that ever spread cloth before the wind, and especially for this remarkable, that her building cost his Majesty the affections of his subjects, who quarelled with him for a trifle, refusing to contribute either to their own safety or to his glory.' Evelyn is here referring to the tax known as Ship Money that Charles levied from 1634 to 1640 to help him build up the fleet. But since he did this without authority from Parliament it was widely held to be an illegal tax, and many refused to pay. This was one of the many issues that led to the Civil War. The lettering on the plate gives a prominent place to the names of Phineas Pett, the designer, and his son Peter Pett, the builder of the ship. Thomas Heywood's contemporary pamphlet, 'A true description of his Majesties royall and most stately ship called the Soveraign of the Seas' (London 1638, p.50), explains the origin of the print: 'young Mr Pr. Pett, the maister builder, hath to his great expence and charge, to show that this excellent fabricke is not to be equall'd in the world agayne; and to give a president to all forraigne ship-architecters, how they shall dare to undertake the like, hath lately published her true effigies or portraicture in sculpture, graved by the excellent artist Mr John Paine, dwelling by the posterne gate neere unto Tower-hill, of whose exquisite skill, as well in drawing and painting, as his art in graving, I am not able to give a character answerable unto his merit'. The print was thus made soon after the ship's launch in 1637. Confirmation that the Pett family (a dynasty of shipwrights) was behind the print can be found in Pepys's Diary for 31 January 1663: 'I home to dinner and then found my plate of the Soverayne with the table to it come from Mr Christopher Pett, of which I am very glad.' No copy of this explanatory table is now known.
The print carries a 'privilegium ad imprimendum solum'. This unusual form of words must mean 'privilege for the sole printing [of the design]', and thus prevented anyone else publishing a print of the ship. The efficacy of the privilege did not outlast the collapse of royal authority in 1642. There are three copies. One is a reversed etching by Thomas Jenner made in 1653 (see1881-6-11-274). The other is a lost woodcut entered in the Stationers Register by Thomas Warren in 1656: 'The great ship called the Royall Sovereigne. The States Admirall. 2 large sh.'. A third was published by Vincenzo Coronelli in his 'Atlante Veneto' in the 1690s (see 'Print Quarterly', XVII 2000, p.117).” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1854-0614-252).
BM online cat. 1854,0614.252; Hind 1952-64 / Engraving in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (III.28.53).
This large and exceptionally rare engraving depicts the English warship Sovereign of the Seas, shown in full sail, flying 5 flags and more than a dozen pennons. With her more than 1500 tons and over 100 guns, she surpassed all her contemporaries in size and gun power and cost about ten times as much as an average naval gunship. Besides being “one of the best known naval prints belonging to the seventeenth century ... extraordinarily rich of detail and of the greatest possible interest” (Chatterton), it is also by far the largest English engraved view to survive from the first half of the century. For the engraving, Payne had, most likely, access to the builder's draughts and plans and must have collaborated with Peter Pett for the engraving to be as representative of the ship as possible.
In its comments, the BL continues “The explanation for these prints lies in the pride and significance attached to the flagships of national fleets… The Sovereign displaced 1637 tons, was 254 feet long and was armed with 144 guns. It cost £65,586 16s 9d, about ten times more than an average naval gun-ship. £7000 was spent on the elaborate carved decoration… Evelyn saw it at Chatham and noted in his diary on 19 July 1641: '... a monstrous vessel ... being for burthen, defense and ornament the richest that ever spread cloth before the wind, and especially for this remarkable, that her building cost his Majesty the affections of his subjects, who quarelled with him for a trifle, refusing to contribute either to their own safety or to his glory.' Evelyn is here referring to the tax known as Ship Money that Charles levied from 1634 to 1640 to help him build up the fleet. But since he did this without authority from Parliament it was widely held to be an illegal tax, and many refused to pay. This was one of the many issues that led to the Civil War. The lettering on the plate gives a prominent place to the names of Phineas Pett, the designer, and his son Peter Pett, the builder of the ship. Thomas Heywood's contemporary pamphlet, 'A true description of his Majesties royall and most stately ship called the Soveraign of the Seas' (London 1638, p.50), explains the origin of the print: 'young Mr Pr. Pett, the maister builder, hath to his great expence and charge, to show that this excellent fabricke is not to be equall'd in the world agayne; and to give a president to all forraigne ship-architecters, how they shall dare to undertake the like, hath lately published her true effigies or portraicture in sculpture, graved by the excellent artist Mr John Paine, dwelling by the posterne gate neere unto Tower-hill, of whose exquisite skill, as well in drawing and painting, as his art in graving, I am not able to give a character answerable unto his merit'. The print was thus made soon after the ship's launch in 1637. Confirmation that the Pett family (a dynasty of shipwrights) was behind the print can be found in Pepys's Diary for 31 January 1663: 'I home to dinner and then found my plate of the Soverayne with the table to it come from Mr Christopher Pett, of which I am very glad.' No copy of this explanatory table is now known.
The print carries a 'privilegium ad imprimendum solum'. This unusual form of words must mean 'privilege for the sole printing [of the design]', and thus prevented anyone else publishing a print of the ship. The efficacy of the privilege did not outlast the collapse of royal authority in 1642. There are three copies. One is a reversed etching by Thomas Jenner made in 1653 (see1881-6-11-274). The other is a lost woodcut entered in the Stationers Register by Thomas Warren in 1656: 'The great ship called the Royall Sovereigne. The States Admirall. 2 large sh.'. A third was published by Vincenzo Coronelli in his 'Atlante Veneto' in the 1690s (see 'Print Quarterly', XVII 2000, p.117).” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1854-0614-252).
BM online cat. 1854,0614.252; Hind 1952-64 / Engraving in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (III.28.53).
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