The Dutch and Flemish Golden Age
The Cannon Shot of Willem van de Velde the Younger, the smoke hanging in a windless sky. Cuyp’s Maas at Dordrecht, full of ships and golden light. Vermeer’s boats moored at Delft. The century when a small country painted its ships as portraits, because its ships were its fortune.
This chapter of Ships in Paintings holds 65 works. For each one you will find the artist and, wherever the records allow, the date and where the original is kept; then what the ship brings to the picture, and the real ship behind it when there is one. See all 1,331 works on one page.
Marea can build any of these ships as a scale model, with the maximum detail the scale permits, finished to be inspected. We can build her as the artist saw her: the same rig, the same sails set, the same colours. It isn’t a copy of a painting. It’s the ship, stepping out of it.
This database was put together by Ai Refloat™, Marea’s own artificial intelligence, from the records of museums, maritime archives and published sources. Ai Refloat is still young & like any teenager, it can be a little volatile and unpredictable at times, but above all, it is learning fast. So this list may well contain mistakes and we welcome the input of everyone who knows these paintings, photographs and ships better than we do: listening, correcting and learning is one of the many ways we work towards perfection in this craft.
When no free image of a work exists, we show instead the museum or the place where the original can be seen.
Have you spotted a mistake? Tell us which painting, photograph or ship, and we will amend it accordingly. Tell us here
The works
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Mauritius, Hollandia, Overijssel and Vriesland Named ship
The Return to Amsterdam of the Second Expedition to the East Indies, 19 July 1599
Artist Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom (c. 1562 to 1640)
Where to see it Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (SK-A-2858)
Medium Oil on canvas
Under Jacob Cornelisz van Neck, eight Dutch ships sailed for the Indonesian archipelago in 1598, and on 19 July 1599 the first four came home from Bantam. Vroom shows the Mauritius, Hollandia, Overijssel and Vriesland on the IJ, surrounded by small boats and rowing boats packed with people, the profile of Amsterdam on the right. The verse on the frame says the four had gone to fetch spices, planted the trade at Bantam and came back richly to Amsterdam. This was one of the voyages that came before the founding of the Dutch East India Company in 1602, and Vroom signed and dated it in the year of the return.
The real ship Eight ships under Jacob Cornelisz van Neck sailed for the Indonesian archipelago in 1598; the Mauritius, Hollandia, Overijssel and Vriesland returned from Bantam on 19 July 1599, while the others sailed on to the Moluccas and returned laden with nutmeg, mace and cloves.
Sources Rijksmuseum · Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Hollandia, Mauritius, Overijssel and Vriesland Named ship
The Return to Amsterdam of the Second Expedition to the East Indies on 19 July 1599, 1610 to 1620
Artist Andries van Eertvelt (1590 to 1652)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0748)
Medium Oil on panel
Andries van Eertvelt, generally seen as the first Flemish marine painter of the seventeenth century, took up a thoroughly Dutch triumph: this early work is based on Vroom's more famous picture of the spice ships coming home. The Hollandia sits at the centre of the returned ships, Amsterdam on the right, and the boats around them are full of life, including a man standing on his head in a small craft. Greenwich notes how carefully rigging and people on deck are shown, with men climbing aloft. That an Antwerp painter chose the subject shows how Flemish artists took part in the northern art market.
The real ship The Overijssel, Vriesland, Mauritius and Hollandia returned from the second Dutch trading expedition to the East Indies in 1599, one of the voyages that preceded the Dutch East India Company of 1602.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Rijksmuseum
Image: Andries van Eertvelt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Kaags filled with passengers Unnamed
Dutch Vessels in a Strong Breeze, c. 1618
Artist Jan Porcellis (c. 1584 to 1632)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0722)
Medium Oil on panel
Two kaags crammed with passengers run before a gust that fills their sails and beats the water into dark, spumy waves; in the bow of one sits a figure dressed in red. The high horizon and the sharp line between dark sea and ashen sky still belong to the generation of Vroom, which is why Greenwich dates this early panel to around 1618, when Porcellis had just joined the Antwerp guild. It may show the waterways around that city. Samuel van Hoogstraten would later hail its painter as the great Raphael of sea painting, and he signed it with his monogram on the Dutch flag.
“the great Raphael of sea painting”
The vessels The kaag was a leeboard vessel for inland waterways, often used on the Zuiderzee as a ferry carrying cargo and people to and from seagoing ships.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Three-masted merchant ship, possibly a fluyt, in a gale Unnamed
Dutch Ships in a Gale, c. 1620
Artist Jan Porcellis (c. 1584 to 1632)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0721)
Medium Oil on panel
A three-masted merchant ship, possibly a fluyt, labours before a storm in convoy with two other vessels, her mainsail broken loose in the wind while men facing leeward fight the rigging. Sky and sea are painted in almost the same dark grey and merge at the horizon, told apart only by white crests; a barrel floats in the foreground. This is one of Porcellis's graeuwtjes, the little grey-in-grey paintings, where the weather matters more than the ships. Scholars read the loose sail two ways: human helplessness in the hands of God, as in Psalm 107, or the fine seamanship of the Dutch.
The vessels An unnamed three-masted merchant ship, possibly a fluyt, the Dutch cargo ship type, sailing in convoy with two other vessels.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Prince Royal Named ship
The Return of Prince Charles from Spain, 5 October 1623
Artist Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom (c. 1562 to 1640)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0710)
Medium Oil on canvas
Prince Charles and the Duke of Buckingham come home aboard the Prince Royal after their failed attempt to win the Spanish Infanta, leading the English fleet into the Solent towards Portsmouth, the tip of the Isle of Wight beyond. Behind her sail the St Andrew, Defiance and Bonaventure, and in all twenty-three ships string along the horizon under striped ensigns of blue, white and gold with the cross of St George in the canton. A Latin label gives thanks that the prince returned safely to Portsmouth, by God's favour, on 5 October 1623. Greenwich thinks this version was painted for Buckingham himself, by Vroom and his studio.
The real ship The Prince Royal, 55 guns, carries the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Buckingham on her half deck, followed by the St Andrew (42 guns), Defiance (40) and Bonaventure (34).
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch East Indiaman under VOC flags Unnamed
The Departure of an East Indiaman, c. 1630 to 1660
Artist Hendrick Staets (active 1630 to 1660)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0784)
Medium Oil on panel
A large East Indiaman leaves port flying the flags and pennant of the Dutch East India Company, firing a salute as she goes. On the quay two figures point after her in farewell, and Greenwich suggests they may have money riding on her voyage. A church on the far coast places the scene on the Zuiderzee, and the ships ranked one behind another into the distance recall Simon de Vlieger. Hendrick Staets, rediscovered only in the 1950s, is a shadowy Leiden painter, but here he catches a departure seen from the shore, where hope and investment wave goodbye together.
The vessels An unnamed East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company, flying the Company's flags on her stern and foremast.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Hendrick Staets, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Fishing pink Unnamed
A Fishing Pink on a Windy Day, c. 1631
Artist Jan Porcellis (c. 1584 to 1632)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0720)
Medium Oil on panel
Painted shortly before his death, this small panel shows Porcellis at his most subtle. A fishing pink heels sharply as two men tend their nets, a big merchantman on the horizon painted almost the colour of the sea. Dark rolling clouds circle a vivid white mass from which light spills onto the water, and the painter has even laid the shadows of the clouds across the pink's sails. Greenwich notes that Porcellis owned a small boat of his own, but built such scenes as much from imagination as from life.
The vessels Pinks were flat-bottomed, square-rigged fishing boats with long leeboards, built to land on the open beach to discharge their catch and also used to carry people.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Ships bringing Frederick V to Vlissingen, 1613 Unnamed
The Arrival at Vlissingen of the Elector Palatine Frederick V, c. 1632
Artist Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom (c. 1562 to 1640)
Where to see it Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
Medium Oil on canvas
A huge canvas, over four metres wide, commissioned by the city of Haarlem in 1632 to remember a visit made nearly twenty years before. In 1613 Frederick V, Elector Palatine, came to the Dutch Republic on his return from England, where he had married Elizabeth, daughter of James I, and Vroom shows the ships about to anchor in the roads off Vlissingen, the town on the horizon. From a high viewpoint every vessel is portrayed in detail and the little waves are laid out with almost mechanical regularity. It is the old panoramic manner of the first Dutch marine specialist, the ship portrait as civic memory.
The vessels The ships that brought Frederick V and his bride from England to the Dutch Republic in 1613, shown arriving at the Vlissingen roads.
Image: Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Hercules and Eenhorn Named ship
The 'Hercules' and 'Eenhorn' off Hoorn, 1634
Artist Bonaventura Peeters the Elder (1614 to 1652)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC1839)
Medium Oil on canvas
Hoorn, one of the most prosperous ports of the Zuiderzee, grown rich on the East Indies trade and the fisheries, stands behind with its church tower and fortifications. In front the warship Hercules has just come to anchor and is lowering her sails, the Dutch flag and the flag of Hoorn flying, Hercules and the lion carved on her stern, a trumpeter blowing aft. Beyond lies the Eenhorn under the flag of the Amsterdam Admiralty, and a little speeljacht sails on the left. Peeters painted it at twenty, the year he became a master of the Antwerp guild, and it is a larger, public picture made for a proud city.
The real ship Two Dutch warships. The Eenhorn cannot be identified with certainty, as two ships of that name are recorded: one of 34 guns built in 1623 and one of 30 guns built in 1625.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Image: Bonaventura Peeters the Elder, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch frigate and gaff-rigged wijdschip Unnamed
A Dutch Man of War and Various Vessels in a Breeze, c. 1638 to 1645
Artist Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601 to 1653)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG3025)
Medium Oil on oak panel
A grey, sunless day and a stiff breeze that whips up the wave tops and flattens the sails against the rigging. A frigate flying the Dutch flag and a gaff-rigged wijdschip both sail as close to the wind as they can, while smaller boats run fast before it, and a second warship lies at anchor. The water stays relatively calm, and the crowding of vessels suggests the sheltered estuaries of the Rhine delta near Rotterdam, where De Vlieger was born. His skill in rendering ships and how they sailed was an important influence on Jan van de Cappelle and Willem van de Velde the Younger.
“to sail as close to the direction of the wind as possible”
The vessels Unnamed: a Dutch frigate, a gaff-rigged wijdschip used for carrying people and goods in coastal waters, and smaller open and gaff-rigged boats.
Sources National Gallery
No free image of this work exists. The photograph shows the National Gallery, London, where the original is kept. Photo: Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. See the work at the museum
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Amelia (Aemilia) Named ship
Before the Battle of the Downs, 21 October 1639, showing Tromp's Flagship 'Amelia', c. 1639
Artist Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman (c. 1623 to 1664)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC3189)
Medium Oil on canvas
A Dutch fleet lies assembled off the Straits of Dover in choppy seas, and in the centre foreground rides the Amelia, a man-of-war launched in 1632 and Maarten Tromp's flagship at the Battle of the Downs against Spain in 1639. Nooms, who spent his early life at sea and signed himself Zeeman, the sailor, records her taffrail with his usual attention to detail, the carved arms of Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange on her stern. It is less a battle picture than a portrait of a flagship on the eve of her great day.
The real ship A man-of-war launched in 1632, the Amelia was Maarten Tromp's flagship at the Battle of the Downs between the Dutch and the Spanish in 1639.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Image: Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Fishing boats in a calm Unnamed
Calm Sea, after 1640
Artist Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601 to 1653)
Where to see it Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (06.1200)
Medium Oil on wood
On the left the horizon simply dissolves into a vast becalmed sea; on the right fishermen ply their trade beneath a Dutch flag. With a deliberately limited range of tones, pale blues, greys and a light brown sail, De Vlieger calibrated the light in sky and water so precisely that the Met sees him as a master of a particularly local landscape. This is the quiet lesson he passed to Willem van de Velde the Younger, who studied with him: the sea as air and light rather than spectacle.
The vessels Unnamed small Dutch fishing boats, one flying the Dutch flag.
Sources The Met · National Gallery
No free image of this work exists. The photograph shows the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where the original is kept. Photo: Arad, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. See the work at the museum
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Three damlopers on the Maas Unnamed
The Maas at Dordrecht in a Storm, c. 1645 to 1650
Artist Aelbert Cuyp (1620 to 1691)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG6405)
Medium Oil on wood (probably oak)
Cuyp, best known for calm and prosperous river views, here paints a thunderstorm, probably early in his career. Lightning flashes above his home town of Dordrecht, lighting the rooftops and church tower while rain pours from a leaden sky; in the foreground sunlight catches the spray thrown back over a bow, and three damlopers tack against the squall with sails blown taut. Cuyp builds the drama from diagonals of cloud, birds, lightning and mast, with broad swirling strokes in the sky and short choppy ones in the water. Yet the sailors stay calm; the National Gallery sees in them the quiet heroism of endurance.
The vessels Damlopers ('dam runners') were slow, sturdy trading vessels of shallow draught built for Holland's inland waters; they could be hauled over dams and dykes, and used leeboards instead of a deep keel, which made tacking against the wind slow.
Sources National Gallery
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch frigates at anchor with a wijdschip and kagen Unnamed
A View of an Estuary, with Dutch Vessels at a Jetty and a Dutch Man of War at Anchor, c. 1645 to 1650
Artist Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601 to 1653)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG4455)
Medium Oil on oak panel
Two Dutch frigates lie at peace in a quiet estuary, perhaps the Maas, with gunports open, presumably for maintenance or drill; the nearer shows the arms of the Province of Holland on her stern. Service boats, a wijdschip and two small kagen, work at the jetty, perhaps running supplies out to them, and on the quay a cross-section of Dutch society watches or fishes. A low sun backlights the translucent sails. The National Gallery suggests such a scene reassured its first owners of national security and naval power. De Vlieger signed it on a spar sticking awkwardly out of the water.
“a floating spar which sticks awkwardly out of the water on the right”
The vessels Unnamed Dutch frigates of the 1640s, the nearer with the arms of Holland on her stern. The wijdschip at the jetty is a small gaff-rigged transport vessel, and the kagen are working boats.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Simon de Vlieger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch fleet at Dordrecht, 1646 Unnamed
The Visit of Frederik Hendrik to Dordrecht in 1646, 1649
Artist Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601 to 1653)
Where to see it Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Medium Oil on panel
The Groote Vergaderinge of 1646, when more ships than had ever come together gathered at Dordrecht with some thirty thousand foot soldiers, was one of the great sights of the age. Aelbert Cuyp painted it too, and the National Gallery of Art links his pictures to the parade paintings De Vlieger was making in these same years. Here the master who taught Willem van de Velde the Younger turns the Stadholder's visit into one of his late panoramas. He painted the subject more than once, with other versions in Budapest and at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
The vessels In 1646 an enormous transport fleet with some thirty thousand foot soldiers assembled at Dordrecht, almost certainly as a last show of force by Frederik Hendrik against the southern Netherlands as truce negotiations began.
Sources wga.hu · National Gallery of Art
Image: Simon de Vlieger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Brederode Named ship
The Brederode off Hellevoetsluis, mid-17th century
Artist Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601 to 1653)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC4158)
Medium Oil on oak panel
Two Dutch warships lie off Hellevoetsluis, a major Dutch naval station, its windmill and walled defences on the right. On the left a vice admiral's flagship with the arms of Amsterdam on her stern waits as a boat rows passengers out to her. The principal ship on the right is probably the Brederode, Maarten Tromp's flagship, flying the Dutch flag at main and fore. Greenwich calls the painting large, formal and impressive. De Vlieger, pupil of Porcellis and master of Willem van de Velde the Younger, bridged two generations of Dutch marine painting, and the picture carries a quiet gravity: Tromp would be killed aboard her in 1653.
The real ship Built in 1645, the Brederode was the flagship of Lieutenant Admiral Maarten Tromp, who was killed aboard her at the Battle of Scheveningen in 1653.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Simon de Vlieger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch states yacht firing a salute Unnamed
A Dutch Yacht firing a Salute as a Barge pulls away, and Many Small Vessels at Anchor, 1650
Artist Jan van de Cappelle (1626 to 1679)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG965)
Medium Oil on wood (probably oak)
A state yacht fires a salute as a barge is rowed urgently away, perhaps marking the departure of the man with feathers in his hat and bright buttons seated at its stern. The sea, in the National Gallery's words, is flat calm and luminous; a forest of masts crowds the middle distance under threatening clouds and a fitful sun, and in the foreground a pont, a long flat-bottomed ferry, carries passengers and two horses gazing at their own reflections. Van de Cappelle painted indoors from sketches and imagination, lengthening the masts and darkening the clouds, and put mood before record.
“Jan van de Cappelle's sea is flat calm and luminous”
The vessels The central vessel is a statenjacht, an official yacht used to carry members of the States General or the provincial states; in the foreground a pont, a long flat-bottomed craft, ferries foot passengers.
Sources National Gallery
No free image of this work exists. The photograph shows the National Gallery, London, where the original is kept. Photo: Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. See the work at the museum
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
State barge and the Dutch home fleet Unnamed
The Home Fleet Saluting the State Barge, 1650
Artist Jan van de Cappelle (1626 to 1679)
Where to see it Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (SK-A-453)
Medium Oil on panel
A row of ships lies at anchor on water so smooth it mirrors them, and two yachts fire a salute as a state barge full of officials is rowed between them. Van de Cappelle, who belongs to the generation of Ruisdael and Cuyp, was not a man to paint sea battles; his fleets parade or rest at the mouths of wide rivers. Here ships stretch away in perspective as far as the eye can see beneath an imposing cloudy sky, and he signed and dated the panel in 1650. The Rijksmuseum speaks of the grandeur unfolding on the water: naval power shown at rest.
“Van de Cappelle superbly captured the grandeur unfolding on the water”
The vessels A state barge carrying government officials is rowed between two yachts firing a salute, with the ships of the home fleet at anchor beyond.
Sources Rijksmuseum · wga.hu
Image: Jan van de Cappelle, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch transport fleet assembled at Dordrecht in 1646, with a pleyt and the yacht of Frederik Hendrik's lifeguards Unnamed
The Maas at Dordrecht, c. 1650
Artist Aelbert Cuyp (1620 to 1691)
Where to see it National Gallery of Art, Washington (1940.2.1)
Medium Oil on canvas
Cuyp's golden river scene records a real gathering. In 1646 an enormous transport fleet, more ships than had ever come together there, and some thirty thousand foot soldiers assembled at Dordrecht for two weeks before sailing on 12 July for Bergen op Zoom and Sas van Gent. A warship flying the Dutch tricolour moves in midstream on the left, a large yacht bearing the Orange arms, that of Prince Frederik Hendrik's lifeguards, fires a salute, and the focus is a simple pleyt on the right, where a portly officer in an orange sash awaits dignitaries arriving by rowing boat. The irony, the National Gallery of Art notes, is that nothing came of the plan.
The vessels The fleet gathered at Dordrecht for two weeks in 1646 and sailed on 12 July, some ships for Bergen op Zoom and others for Sas van Gent. The pleyt in the foreground is a relatively simple vessel; the large yacht with the Orange arms belonged to the lifeguards of Prince Frederik Hendrik.
Sources National Gallery of Art
Dutch Golden Age · Drawing
Wapen van Holland Named ship
The Pepper Wharf of the Dutch East India Company, Amsterdam, c. 1650
Artist Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman (c. 1623 to 1664)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (PAH4313)
Medium Graphite, pen and brown ink, brown wash
This is the Dutch East India Company at work rather than in glory: its pepper wharf in Amsterdam, drawn in graphite, pen and brown wash by Reinier Zeeman, a sailor who turned to art after a rough life at sea. Greenwich notes that the name Nooms appears in no document of his life, and calls this drawing rather untypical and topographically of great interest. Among the shipping it identifies the Wappen van Hollandt of 1653. Zeeman's ships are drawn with the accuracy of a man who knew them from the deck, which is why other artists copied his etchings.
“This rather untypical drawing shows the Dutch ship ‘Wappen van Hollandt’ (1653), and is topographically of great interest.”
The real ship The Wappen van Hollandt was a Dutch ship of 1653, shown here at the Dutch East India Company's pepper wharf in Amsterdam.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Image: Reinier Nooms, called Zeeman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Passenger barges, turf punt and hay barge becalmed Unnamed
A River Scene with Dutch Vessels Becalmed, c. 1650
Artist Jan van de Cappelle (1626 to 1679)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG4456)
Medium Oil on canvas
Humble inshore craft become what the National Gallery calls a majestic panorama. Two barges carry passengers, lawyers in short black cloaks and elegant aristocrats among them; the oarsmen put their backs into it but make little progress, with no wind or current to help, and not even the smallest wake follows them. Nearer still, a pont flying the blue and white flag of Texel carries a load of turf, the crew's washing hung on a boom, and behind it a barge carries a gigantic bale of hay. Almost two thirds of the canvas is soft grey sky above a forest of brown, ochre and white sails.
“Not even the smallest wake follows the two vessels.”
The vessels Everyday inshore craft: two passenger barges, one with the Dutch ensign and one probably flying the flag of Hoorn, a pont carrying turf and probably from Texel, and a barge loaded with hay.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Jan van de Cappelle, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Two coastal craft at dawn Unnamed
Two Vessels by the Shore at Day Break, 1651
Artist Jan van de Cappelle (1626 to 1679)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0843)
Medium Oil on panel
Daybreak, and two coastal craft with a larger vessel behind lie on mirror-smooth water in a golden glow. In the smaller boat a man sits with his back to us, talking to a woman with folded arms, while a child emerges from under a canopy: the boat is also their home. Ghostly figures work the sails in the half-light, another man hauls up an anchor, and a cow on the foreshore stands silhouetted against the light. Greenwich finds elegance and dignity here, a contrast to the agitated seas of other Dutch painters, and small touches of red, the men's caps, the child's bodice, a flag, draw the eye.
“There is elegance and dignity in this peaceful early morning scene”
The vessels Unnamed Dutch coastal craft; the canopy in the nearer boat shows it served as the family's home as well as their living.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Jan van de Cappelle, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch Indiaman coming to anchor, with a kaag Unnamed
Calm: A Dutch Ship coming to Anchor and Another under Sail, 1657
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG870)
Medium Oil on canvas
A merchant ship, probably an Indiaman home from the Far East or the West Indies, is coming to anchor in the early morning, her white sails lowered one by one. A kaag flying the blue and white flag of Texel waits in front to carry the cargo ashore, its sail glowing in low sun, and a man silhouetted against it starts to hoist a boat. To the right a fluyt with a whaling crane drifts almost becalmed. The National Gallery reads it as the end of a long and dangerous voyage, and the quiet relief of arrival is in every slack sail.
“After a long and dangerous journey, perhaps to the Far East or the West Indies, the white sails are being lowered one by one.”
The vessels An unnamed large armed merchantman, probably an Indiaman, with a vice admiral's flag at the fore suggesting she led a small convoy. The kaag beside her was a flat-bottomed inshore craft that carried goods and people.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch warship of the Province of Holland, with a kaag and a fishing boat Unnamed
A Dutch Ship and Other Small Vessels in a Strong Breeze, 1658
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG2573)
Medium Oil on canvas
The young Willem van de Velde painted this exhilarating little picture early in his career, and it shows the influence of Simon de Vlieger, with whom he may have studied. A warship heels before an advancing storm, the Dutch flag flying boldly at the main and the arms of Holland on her stern; her gunports are open and the cannon run out, probably for practice. A small fishing boat is tossed on her wash, and close to us the crew of a kaag take in sail to slow her. On the faded flag of the kaag what appears to be the painter's own signature can just be made out.
“A warship keels over in the face of an advancing storm, a Dutch flag flying boldly at its mainmast”
The vessels An unnamed Dutch warship bearing the arms of the Province of Holland; the kaag was a flat-bottomed craft used for inshore journeys.
Sources National Gallery · Wikipedia
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch three-master and yacht Unnamed
Ships in the Roads (also called Warships at Amsterdam), c. 1658
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it Mauritshuis, The Hague (inv. 200)
Medium Oil on canvas
A day on the water in almost dead calm, painted by the young Van de Velde around 1658. On the right the crew of a three-master hoist the headsail while a passenger is rowed ashore, and the whole business is watched from a yacht in the foreground. The stern of the ship is richly carved with a red Dutch lion and the arms of Amsterdam. The picture follows the calm parade type Jan van de Cappelle had just developed, and here Van de Velde is a portraitist of ships, inviting the eye to linger over masts, sails, carved arms and flags. He signed it across the ribbon on the yacht's taffrail.
“he gives an impression of a day on the water in almost dead calm”
The vessels An unnamed Dutch three-master whose stern bears the arms of Amsterdam, with a yacht lying in the foreground.
Sources Mauritshuis · wga.hu
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Hoeker and a herring buss of Hoorn Unnamed
Dutch Ships in a Calm, c. 1660
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG6465)
Medium Oil on wood (probably oak)
A small panel, barely 36 by 43 centimetres, holds a whole early morning, perhaps at the beginning of spring. A hoeker's white sail blazes in the sun, a fishing buss carries the arms of the city of Hoorn on her stern, and further out an anchored warship waits for a breeze while porpoises break the water in the shadows. The reflections are perfect and the men go about their work with no sense of urgency. Van de Velde signed WVV on the taffrail beneath the golden horn of Hoorn, and at least eight other versions are known, which shows how much buyers loved this tranquil vision.
“at least eight other versions of it are known”
The vessels On the left are a hoeker and a fishing buss with the arms of Hoorn on her stern; her striped flag suggests that, though built in Hoorn, she worked out of Texel. On the right a kaag, a flat-bottomed inshore transport, catches what little breeze there is.
Sources National Gallery
No free image of this work exists. The photograph shows the National Gallery, London, where the original is kept. Photo: Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. See the work at the museum
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch states yacht and inshore vessels at evening Unnamed
Dutch Vessels lying Inshore in a Calm, one Saluting, 1660
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG6407)
Medium Oil on canvas
Here Van de Velde cares less for rigging than for evening light. A low, warm sun throws the nearby vessels into shadow and turns them into what the National Gallery calls an elegant, rhythmic series of curves and angles, their sails almost translucent against the sky. A little way out lies a statenjacht, the yacht of the States General, and a puff of smoke from a hidden gun announces an important visitor, yet the quiet is barely disturbed. Sailors carry on without hurry, and one lone figure stands with his back to us, sharing our view and perhaps our mood.
“their sails almost translucent”
The vessels The statenjacht, or state yacht, carried members of the States General and other dignitaries; the other craft are small inshore vessels.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
English ketch with a weyschuit, Dutch merchantman and smalschip Unnamed
An English Vessel and Dutch Ships Becalmed, c. 1660
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG874)
Medium Oil on wood (probably oak)
Flags droop and hardly anyone moves: the sea is flat and calm and the boats lie still. An English ketch flying the flag of Saint George sits in the foreground with a weyschuit, a small open boat, almost alongside, while a Dutch merchant ship lies broadside with a smalschip nosing in beside her. Every craft is accurately drawn, with the vigour and detail his clients expected, but the low horizon opens a wide sky of drifting clouds against which masts, rigging and curved sails make an intricate geometry. An English visitor becalmed among Dutch craft, some twelve years before the painter himself crossed to England.
The vessels Unnamed craft: an English ketch flying the flag of Saint George, a weyschuit (a small open boat), a Dutch merchant ship and a smalschip, with other vessels of different sizes and purposes in the distance.
Sources National Gallery · Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch states yacht firing a salute Unnamed
A River Scene with a Dutch Yacht firing a Salute as Two Barges pull away, mid-1660s
Artist Jan van de Cappelle (1626 to 1679)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG966)
Medium Oil on canvas
This Dutch river mouth is a busy place: vessels of all kinds lie moored close by and others move across the water further out. On the right a state yacht fires a salute as important visitors prepare to board from the barges beside her, and soldiers with spears stand by. Van de Cappelle breaks up the vast sky with moving clouds that cast deep shadows, and with almost abstract shapes of sails, masts and spars. A patch of brilliant blue at the centre, perhaps once a canopy and swags of fabric, has changed chemically over time and now looks brighter and flatter than he intended, as do the soldiers' cloaks.
“Vessels of all kinds are moored close to us, and others move across the water further out to sea.”
The vessels The central vessel on the right is a statenjacht (state yacht) firing a salute; the barges beside her carry the visitors.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Jan van de Cappelle, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Fishing pinks (pinken) on the beach at Scheveningen Unnamed
The Shore at Scheveningen, c. 1660
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707), figures by Adriaen van de Velde
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG873)
Medium Oil on canvas
A brisk wind brings a small fleet of fishing pinks to shore at Scheveningen, three miles from The Hague, tossed by choppy waves under a fitful sun. Two boats already stand on planks in the sand, one with sails neatly stowed and one drying in the wind, ready to be carried out on the next tide, while men and women peg nets on poles along the beach. A covered wagon with the arms of Amsterdam delivers a soberly dressed man, for the fishing village was becoming a resort. The picture is a family work: the view by Willem the Younger, the wagon and figures by his brother Adriaen.
The vessels The pinks are the fishing boats of Scheveningen, worked from the open beach: beached boats stood on planks in the sand, ready to be lifted and carried out on the next tide.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Small Dutch fishing boats aground at low tide Unnamed
Small Dutch Vessels Aground at Low Water in a Calm, c. 1660
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707) and studio
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG2574)
Medium Oil on canvas
Four small boats rest on the sand at low tide. Sails dry in the sun, Dutch flags hang limp, fishermen work without hurry and a figure with a basket wades through the shallows, while larger ships lie at anchor in the haze. The National Gallery finds in it a feeling of summer, heat and timelessness. Such pictures were very popular in the Dutch Republic, and this one was probably made by Willem the Younger with assistants in the busy family studio he shared with his father and brother Adriaen.
“a feeling of summer, heat and timelessness”
The vessels Unnamed small inshore craft run aground on a sandy shore at low tide, while bigger ships offshore wait for the tide.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch states yacht Unnamed
A State Yacht and Other Craft in Calm Water, c. 1660
Artist Jan van de Cappelle (1626 to 1679)
Where to see it Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (12.31)
Medium Oil on wood
Great and small ships rest together on still water, and the Met explains what such a sight meant to the Dutch of the time: peace and prosperity after years of war, and a sense of things far greater than themselves. Van de Cappelle could afford such calm. Income from property and his father's dyeworks gave him a comfortable living, and he collected hundreds of paintings and drawings, among them works by Simon de Vlieger and Rembrandt. The state yacht at the centre is less a vessel than an emblem of a republic at rest.
The vessels A statenjacht, or state yacht, an official vessel used to carry members of the government and other dignitaries.
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Moored boats at Delft Unnamed
View of Delft (Gezicht op Delft), c. 1660 to 1661
Artist Johannes Vermeer (1632 to 1675)
Where to see it Mauritshuis, The Hague (92)
Medium Oil on canvas
The boats are the quietest actors in the most famous townscape of the Golden Age, and Vermeer uses them to set its mood. All are moored, their sails lowered; there is virtually no wind, and only a soft breeze ruffles the reflecting water in places. On the hull of the boat near the Rotterdam Gate he laid many tiny dots of paint, which suggest the reflection of the sparkling water. Nothing is going anywhere, and that stillness gives the city its air of tranquillity, the subtle reflections making the canvas, in the museum's words, an absolute masterpiece.
The vessels Unnamed inland boats moored at Delft with their sails lowered.
Sources Mauritshuis
Image: Johannes Vermeer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Kaag and working boats inshore, warships at anchor Unnamed
Dutch Vessels close Inshore at Low Tide, and Men Bathing, 1661
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG871)
Medium Oil on canvas
A summer evening on the Dutch coast, and the tide is going out. Men and boys swim in the calm shallows, a fisherman with a basket on his back crosses the wet sand, clothes dry on a kaag and a seaman carries a well-dressed man ashore on his back. Offshore the fleet lies at anchor, the nearest ship with gunports open and cannon run out, probably for practice, the second firing a salute. The National Gallery counts it among the finest early works of the painter, the best of four versions, and the quiet of the hour is its true subject.
“nothing disturbs the rare, comfortable tranquillity of life on the inshore vessels brought by a summer evening”
The vessels The kaag was an inshore transport vessel; behind it lies a wijdschip, a larger working vessel, possibly from Hoorn, and offshore the Dutch warships lie at anchor.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch states yacht (statenjacht) Unnamed
A Dutch Yacht surrounded by Many Small Vessels, saluting as Two Barges pull alongside, 1661
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG978)
Medium Oil on canvas
The National Gallery calls this the largest and most elaborate of its Van de Velde paintings. A states yacht in Dutch colours, the arms of Holland and Amsterdam on her stern, fires a salute as a barge bearing the arms of Amsterdam brings officials alongside; trumpeters on her high deck sound a fanfare, answered from a second barge. A whole flotilla gathers on a sea that shimmers like glass under a vast sunlit sky laced with masts and flags. A small pleasure yacht on the right flies a pennant with the initials W/VV, perhaps the painter's own family boat.
“the largest and most elaborate of the pictures by Willem van de Velde the Younger in the National Gallery's collection”
The vessels The central vessel is a statenjacht (state yacht) flying the Dutch colours, with the arms of the Province of Holland and of Amsterdam on her stern; the officials may have been crossing the Zuiderzee to visit the fleet at the Texel.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
States yacht and an admiral's flagship saluting Unnamed
Boats pulling out to a Yacht in a Calm, c. 1665
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG980)
Medium Oil on canvas
The sea is calm but nothing else is. Small boats pull hard from the shore towards two vessels firing salutes: a tall-sailed statenjacht flying the ensign of the States General, bringing officials to visit the admiral before the fleet sails, and the admiral's flagship itself. Beyond, more warships stand like shadows on the horizon. The Dutch Republic was often at war with England in these years, and the National Gallery suggests this may be a fleet preparing for battle; the urgency of the oarsmen against the stillness of the water carries that tension.
The vessels The statenjacht carried members of the government and visiting dignitaries out to the admiral before the fleet set sail; this one flies the ensign of the States General.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Squadron of Dutch warships of Amsterdam preparing to sail Unnamed
Dutch Ships in a Calm Sea, c. 1665
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (SK-C-1707)
Medium Oil on canvas
A small squadron of six warships is about to leave. Sails are going up, anchors are being raised, the last provisions and crew are taken aboard, and a sloop of dignitaries, probably from the Admiralty, rows past to the sound of trumpets and saluting guns. On the ship at right the stern carries the arms of Amsterdam held by two standing lions. The Rijksmuseum stresses the enormous accuracy of rigging, sails and cannon, all laid out on a wide, calm sea. As early as 1778 a sale catalogue already singled the picture out as exceptional.
“one of the best gems by this outstanding marine painter”
The vessels Unnamed Dutch warships, probably part of a war fleet preparing to depart; the ship on the right bears the arms of Amsterdam on her stern.
Sources Rijksmuseum
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
State barge, East Indiamen and small craft Unnamed
Entrance to a Dutch Port, c. 1665
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (20.155.6)
Medium Oil on canvas
A whole maritime nation passes through one harbour mouth. The Met points to the range of craft, from small cargo and fishing boats to a state barge and East Indiamen bound on long voyages of trade and empire. The picture unites the nautical accuracy Van de Velde learned from his father, a celebrated draughtsman of ships, with the tonal painting he learned from his other teacher, Simon de Vlieger. In the foreground two humble figures wade ashore, a small human bridge between the viewer's solid ground and the busy world of ships beyond.
The vessels Unnamed vessels, ranging from small cargo and fishing boats to a state barge and East Indiamen bound on long trading voyages.
Sources The Met · Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Fluyts and a kaag at the Texel roadstead Unnamed
The Merchant Shipping Anchorage off Texel Island with Oudeschild in the Distance, 1665
Artist Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630 to 1708)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0916)
Medium Oil on canvas
The merchant roadstead off the eastern shore of Texel, one of the islands guarding the entrance to the Zuiderzee, painted by Bakhuizen alive with business. A great three-masted fluyt anchors the diagonal of the composition, a kaag with brown and cream sails runs before the wind on the right, a warship lies at anchor and the church tower of Oudeschild rises beyond. A man on the left blows a trumpet in signal, and a barrel painted with the red lion of Holland floats past. Greenwich sees theatrical light and the energy of a painter at the height of his career.
The vessels The fluyt was a Dutch merchant ship; the kaag, in the words of Greenwich, a common type of ferry boat, here sprit-rigged and running before the wind.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Image: Ludolf Bakhuizen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Wijdschip ferry of Texel with a pont and barge Unnamed
A River Scene with a Large Ferry and Numerous Dutch Vessels at Anchor, c. 1665
Artist Jan van de Cappelle (1626 to 1679)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG967)
Medium Oil on canvas
Working boats crowd a Dutch waterway, and Van de Cappelle lifts them into majesty by exaggerating their masts and bathing the folds of their sails in warm sunlight. A big wijdschip ferry flying the blue and white flags of Texel waits with well-dressed passengers aboard; officials in black talk on a barge; a flat pont seems to fly the ensign of Hoorn. Among bundles of hay lie a cannon and its wheels, for around 1665 Holland was in the middle of a bitter war with England. The National Gallery praises the abstract beauty of light on masts, ropes and sails, crowded with incident for the patient eye.
“crowded with incident and activity for the patient eye to find”
The vessels The ferry is probably the wijdschip flying two blue and white flags that suggest Texel; the pont was a flat-bottomed inshore boat also often used as a ferry.
Sources National Gallery · Wikipedia
Image: Jan van de Cappelle, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Spiegel Named ship
View of Amsterdam with Ships on the IJ, with the Spiegel (Vue d'Amsterdam), 1666
Artist Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630 to 1708)
Where to see it Musée du Louvre, Paris (INV. 988)
Medium Oil on canvas
This great view of Amsterdam from the IJ was a diplomatic gift. The city commissioned it in 1665 for Hugues de Lionne, Louis XIV's foreign minister, on the advice of the Dutch ambassador Coenraad van Beuningen, at the time of the Franco-Dutch alliance and the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Amsterdam's sea power is glorified by the man-of-war Spiegel, built in 1663, which dominates the water; Bakhuizen even signed and dated the work on her stern. The ship is the city's argument: wealth, fleet and friendship offered to the king of France.
The real ship Spiegel was a large Dutch man-of-war built in 1663; Bakhuizen shows her on the IJ in the year of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
Image: Ludolf Bakhuizen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch and English East India ships at an Indian port Unnamed
A Dutch Settlement in India, 1670s
Artist Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630 to 1708)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC1933)
Medium Oil on canvas (grisaille)
One of a pair of grisailles in which Bakhuizen imagined a bustling Indian trading port of the Dutch East India Company, works Greenwich calls extremely rare in his output. Dutch and English ships ride at anchor before fortified towers and slender palm trees; on shore an envoy in a buffalo wagon heads for the water, a porter carries a heavy package and a small party rests beside carafes of wine. It has long been called Surat, but Bakhuizen is not known to have gone there, and he probably composed it from prints and drawings. The ships are familiar; the world around them is a Dutch vision of the East.
The vessels Unnamed ships whose flags mark them as both Dutch and English, reflecting the commercial rivalry of the two nations' companies in India.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Image: Ludolf Bakhuizen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Eendracht (1653) Named ship
The Eendracht and a Fleet of Dutch Men of War, c. 1670 to 1675
Artist Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630 to 1708)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG223)
Medium Oil on canvas
The Eendracht, one of the most famous ships of the Dutch navy, leads the fleet away from us through choppy, white-tipped waves, gunports open, a picture whose flags, the National Gallery says, were meant to raise feelings of patriotism. A highly decorated barge ploughs towards her carrying an official with ostrich feathers in his hat, a fluyt passes behind, and an inward-bound yacht fires a salute under grey clouds. Yet the painting is also a memorial. It may recall the fleet leaving for the Battle of Lowestoft on 3 June 1665, where the Eendracht blew up and sank with nearly all her crew and the admiral.
“Flags fly high and raise feelings of patriotism with them”
The real ship Built in 1653, the Eendracht ('Union') was the flagship of Lieutenant Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam; at the Battle of Lowestoft on 3 June 1665 she blew up and sank with nearly all her crew, the admiral among them.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Ludolf Bakhuizen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Two Dutch East Indiamen and a smalschip Unnamed
A Smalschip with two Dutch East Indiamen coming to Anchor, c. 1670
Artist Hendrick Jacobsz Dubbels (1621 to 1707)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0917)
Medium Oil on canvas
Two great Dutch East Indiamen, perhaps home from a voyage overseas, come to anchor under a vast rolling sky. One has a carved lion for a figurehead; the other has a pavilion among what may be palm trees painted on her stern, a hint of the exotic trade she served. A smalschip with cream and brown sails crosses under the bows, a man gesturing at the ship, and a sturdy buoy floats in the foreground. The picture was long taken for a Bakhuizen, until cleaning in the 1980s revealed Dubbels's signature on that buoy, restoring the credit to the man who may have been Bakhuizen's teacher.
The vessels Unnamed Dutch East Indiamen flying Dutch flags and a plain red jack. The smalschip, or narrow ship, took its name from its ability to pass through the locks of inland waterways.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Hendrick Jacobsz Dubbels, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch ships riding out a gale behind a breakwater Unnamed
Storm off a Sea Coast (L'Estacade, ou Gros temps sur le bord d'une digue de Hollande), early 1670s
Artist Jacob van Ruisdael (c. 1629 to 1682)
Where to see it Musée du Louvre, Paris (INV. 1818)
Medium Oil on canvas
Ruisdael's largest seascape shows great waves breaking on a dyke lined with piles, a fisherman's cottage and a few trees on the right, and beyond it the masts of several large vessels, one showing her stern and the Dutch flag. The ships are half-hidden, which makes the storm feel larger. The Louvre places it in the artist's maturity and notes how much the nineteenth century admired its pathos: Turner and Boudin copied it, and Van Gogh called it magnificent. Bought at auction in Amsterdam in 1783 for Louis XVI, it was shown at the opening of the Louvre museum in 1793.
The vessels Unnamed large vessels whose masts rise beyond a piled dyke on the Dutch coast, one showing her stern and a Dutch flag.
Image: Jacob van Ruisdael, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Gouden Leeuw Named ship
The 'Gouden Leeuw' at Sea in Heavy Weather, 1671
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it Royal Collection, United Kingdom (RCIN 405324)
Medium Oil on canvas
The Gouden Leeuw, the great Amsterdam warship that would soon carry Cornelis Tromp's flag, is shown twice in one picture, from two points of view, as if the painter wanted to walk around her in a gale. The Royal Collection traces the idea to the ship spotter prints of the time, which the Van de Veldes took further by showing the same ship twice. Painted in 1671, the result is part portrait, part weather: the flagship to be caught working in rough water.
The real ship A ship of the line of 80 to 82 guns built for the Admiralty of Amsterdam in 1666, for a time the largest Dutch warship; flagship of Lieutenant Admiral Cornelis Tromp in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, including the Battle of Texel in 1673, and broken up in 1686.
Sources Royal Collection · Wikipedia
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
HMS St Andrew Named ship
The 'St Andrew' at Sea in a Moderate Breeze, c. 1673
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC3618)
Medium Oil on canvas
Royal Museums Greenwich calls it a closely observed portrait, probably painted the year after Van de Velde came to England. The St Andrew is seen from the port side, abaft the beam, her stern visible, towing a boat full of men on a long line astern, with a blue flag at the fore. Since Sir John Kempthorne flew his blue flag at the fore in her, as vice admiral, at the Battle of the Texel in 1673, he probably commissioned the picture. Van de Velde prepared it with several detailed drawings of the ship, and painted other versions too.
“A closely observed portrait of the ‘St Andrew’, 96 guns.”
The real ship Built at Woolwich Dockyard by Christopher Pett in 1670 as a 96-gun ship, she carried Vice Admiral Sir John Kempthorne's flag at the Battle of the Texel in 1673 and was rebuilt as the 100-gun Royal Anne in 1704.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Three ships in a gale Unnamed
Three Ships in a Gale, 1673
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG981)
Medium Oil on canvas
Three merchant ships show three stages of peril. The nearest, a man-of-war, ploughs into a breaking wave caught in a sudden shaft of sunlight; the second has lost two masts and snapped her bowsprit while her crew battles to secure a yard lying across the foredeck; the third has let her mainsails fly and they will soon be shredded. All have taken down their sails to drift before the gale. Painted in 1673, just after Van de Velde moved from Amsterdam to England, it shows how he could still sell Dutch ships to London buyers while the two nations fought at sea.
“drifting at the mercy of the gale and the surging sea”
The vessels Unnamed ships. The red pennants at the mastheads of the nearest are probably the flag of Flushing, and the tattered Dutch flag at the fore of the ship behind suggests she carries the vice admiral of a merchant fleet.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Portsmouth (royal yacht, 1674) Named ship
The English Yacht 'Portsmouth' at Anchor, 1675
Artist Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611 to 1693)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC3556)
Medium Oil on panel
Oil paintings by the elder Van de Velde are rare; he spent his life drawing ships and making pen paintings, and was among the first artists to follow fleets into action. Here he paints the yacht Portsmouth at anchor in a calm, her deck crowded with people, a two-decker behind firing a salute half-hidden in its own smoke. His son may have added the sails. Signed and dated 1675, it is the third of the surviving panels made for the cabin of Charles II's yacht Charlotte, a family set for a royal patron.
The real ship An 8-gun yacht built at Woolwich by Sir Phineas Pett in 1674 and named after the Duchess of Portsmouth, Louise de Keroualle, one of Charles II's mistresses.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Image: Willem van de Velde the Elder, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Charles Galley Named ship
The 'Charles Galley' before a Light Breeze, 1677
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC3254)
Medium Oil on panel
A galley frigate painted for a royal cabin. The Charles Galley tows an admiral's barge full of men in a light breeze, a two-decker under sail behind her. She was one of two galley frigates built in 1676 for service in the Mediterranean against the North African corsairs, and Greenwich identifies her from a detailed Van de Velde drawing in its collection. Signed and dated 1677, the panel belongs to the set made to decorate the cabin of Charles II's new yacht Charlotte, and it survived to be given to Greenwich Hospital in 1791.
The real ship One of two galley frigates built in 1676 for Mediterranean service against the Barbary corsairs, armed with 32 guns and classed as a fourth-rate until 1691.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Drawing
Mary (royal yacht, 1677) Named ship
Portrait of the 'Mary', c. 1677
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (PAH1863)
Medium Offset and pencil on paper
This is a working drawing from the Van de Velde studio: the royal yacht Mary seen from the starboard quarter, seven wreathed ports along her side, three of them with guns, and an oval shield on her stern bearing a foul anchor supported by the lion and the unicorn. Willem the Younger inscribed it in brown ink, d Maeri. It is an offset, taken from the same original as another sheet at Greenwich, and was probably made for pictures of the journey of William of Orange and Princess Mary to Holland in 1677. A yacht drawn not for display but so that she could be painted true.
The real ship An 8-gun English royal yacht built in 1677 and rebuilt in 1727.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
No free image of this work exists. The photograph shows the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, where the original is kept. Photo: TxllxT, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. See the work at the museum
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
HMS Woolwich (1675) Named ship
The Woolwich before a Light Breeze, c. 1677
Artist Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611 to 1693)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC3732)
Medium Oil on panel
This panel was painted to hang aboard a royal yacht. It is one of three surviving pictures painted by the Van de Veldes for the cabin of the Charlotte, built at Portsmouth for Charles II in 1677, a set of ship portraits to decorate the yacht itself. The Woolwich has just made sail and is hoisting in her port bower anchor, while a smaller warship under her stern fires a salute. After the Charlotte was broken up, Admiral of the Fleet John Forbes presumably acquired the panels, and in 1791 he gave them to Greenwich Hospital so that they would be kept in naval hands.
The real ship A 54-gun fourth-rate built by Phineas Pett III at Woolwich Dockyard and launched in 1675; rebuilt in 1702, taken to pieces at Deptford in 1736 and rebuilt as a 50-gun fourth-rate, relaunched in 1741 and finally broken up at Woolwich in 1747.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Willem van de Velde the Elder, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Royal James Named ship
Calm: the Royal James, a Royal Yacht and Other Shipping, 1678
Artist Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611 to 1693)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC3608)
Medium Oil on canvas
An oil by the elder Van de Velde, dated 1678, when father and son were working in England for Charles II. A three-decker, first identified as the Royal Prince and now thought to be the Royal James, lies at anchor with the blue flag of an admiral of the blue at the main, while a royal yacht with an extra-long pendant, perhaps the Cleveland, rides in the foreground and a two-decker fires a forward gun. In the distance may be the James Galley of 1676. Three porpoises swim past in the foreground, a favourite device of Dutch marine painters. Van de Velde may have drawn the ship at Solebay in 1672.
The real ship The Royal James was a first-rate three-decker of Charles II's navy; Greenwich suggests Van de Velde may have seen her at the Battle of Solebay on 28 May 1672. The picture was earlier identified as the Royal Prince.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Image: Willem van de Velde the Elder, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
HMS Resolution (1667) Named ship
The 'Resolution' in a Gale, c. 1678
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC3582)
Medium Oil on canvas
This is a storm remembered by an admiral. The Resolution, close-hauled on the port tack with topsails furled, fights through a gale flying the Union flag at the main, the mark of Sir Thomas Allin as commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean in 1668 to 1670. Greenwich thinks Allin commissioned it, perhaps recalling a storm of 14 December 1669 that he described in his journal. Van de Velde worked it up from several drawings of the ship, and the result joins portrait accuracy to the new drama of the storm pictures he painted in England.
The real ship One of the first 70-gun two-deckers, built at Harwich in 1667 and rebuilt in 1698. She was Sir Thomas Allin's flagship in 1668 to 1670 while his fleet protected English merchant shipping against Barbary corsairs.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch man-of-war firing a gun Unnamed
The Cannon Shot (Het kanonschot), c. 1680
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (SK-C-244)
Medium Oil on canvas
Nothing happens in this picture except one gun, and that is the point. A Dutch warship lies in a calm with her sails hanging loose, and the smoke of a single shot rolls out across the still water. Two sloops float on either side of her; another warship, sails lowered, lies in the distance. Van de Velde turns a routine moment into a meditation on stillness, so that the report of the cannon seems to hang in the air. He painted it in England, the Rijksmuseum notes, as the companion of The Gust: calm set against storm.
“A Dutch warship in a calm, with its sails loosed, fires a cannon shot.”
The vessels An unnamed Dutch man-of-war of the later seventeenth century, shown in a calm with two sloops alongside.
Sources Rijksmuseum
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
English merchant vessel and English man-of-war in a gale Unnamed
An English Vessel and a Man of War in a Rough Sea off a Coast with Tall Cliffs, probably 1680s
Artist Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630 to 1708)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG819)
Medium Oil on canvas
A gale blows in from the sea and drives an English vessel, St George's cross at the main, towards high cliffs. Her sails belly out, the helmsman hunches over the wheel, and a fitful streak of sunlight turns a white sail a sickly yellow, while an English man-of-war with cannon ready rides out the storm nearby. Bakhuizen, who began as a calligrapher, made his name with exactly this: the dangers sailors faced, painted for people on land whose safety and prosperity depended on ships coming home.
“an English man-of-war (or battleship), cannon at the ready, rides out the gale”
The vessels Unnamed English ships: a vessel flying the English flag at the stern and St George's cross at the main, and an English man-of-war.
Sources National Gallery · Wikipedia
Image: Ludolf Bakhuizen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
English 70-gun warship in a squall Unnamed
A Ship on the High Seas Caught by a Squall, known as 'The Gust' (De windstoot), c. 1680
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (SK-A-1848)
Medium Oil on canvas
Van de Velde and his father, also a marine painter, entered the service of the English court in 1672, and he painted The Gust in England as the storm half of a pair. A large British warship of 70 guns is in distress: a fierce gust of wind has broken one of her masts and a sail has come loose, while a smaller ship labours on the left. Where The Cannon Shot is all silence, here everything strains, canvas, rigging and hull heeling together on a high wave. The painter of calms shows he can render the sea's violence with the same exactness.
“This large, 70-gun British warship is in distress.”
The vessels The Rijksmuseum identifies the ship as a large 70-gun British warship; the individual ship is not named.
Sources Rijksmuseum
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch man-of-war with Mediterranean galleys Unnamed
Dutch Men of War entering a Mediterranean Port, 1681
Artist Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630 to 1708)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG1050)
Medium Oil on canvas
Dutch power far from home, or so Bakhuizen would have his audience believe. A man-of-war with the arms of Amsterdam on her stern lies at anchor, gunports open, only one sail furled, while slender galleys, the rowing ships of the Mediterranean since Roman times, set the scene in the south; the nearest, not a Dutch vessel, flies the Dutch flag. As far as we know Bakhuizen never went south, and the National Gallery reads the setting as imaginary and the picture as propaganda for Dutch commerce and sea power. Yet the sea itself is real, with depth and power, and, in the Gallery's words, you can almost feel the wind and the spray.
“You can almost feel the wind and the spray, hear the slap of the rigging and the flap of the flags.”
The vessels Unnamed: a Dutch man-of-war with the arms of Amsterdam on her stern, other Dutch naval and merchant craft approaching the port, and Mediterranean galleys.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Ludolf Bakhuizen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch man-of-war, boeier yacht and wijdschip off Enkhuizen Unnamed
Dutch Men of War and Small Vessels in a Fresh Breeze off Enkhuizen, 1683
Artist Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630 to 1708)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG204)
Medium Oil on canvas
On the Zuiderzee off Enkhuizen, towering storm clouds threaten boats fighting choppy waves. A man-of-war with the arms of Amsterdam sails away from us, part of her mainmast gone, while a boeier yacht with the same arms pitches on the wash, and the port's sea walls and slender Zuiderkerk tower, a beacon to travellers, show through mist and spray. Bakhuizen catches the white wave tops in a watery ray of sunlight. Then comes the detail everyone remembers: on a humble wijdschip carrying passengers, an old woman eats her soup a few feet above the water, splashed by waves and entirely unconcerned.
“An old woman eats her soup only a few feet above the water”
The vessels Unnamed: a Dutch man-of-war and a boeier yacht, both with the arms of Amsterdam as official craft of the city, and a wijdschip, a wide passenger and cargo vessel of the Zuiderzee.
Sources National Gallery
Image: Ludolf Bakhuizen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Gouden Leeuw Named ship
The Gouden Leeuw on the IJ before Amsterdam (De Gouden Leeuw op het IJ voor Amsterdam), 1686
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it Amsterdam Museum (SA 7421)
Medium Oil on canvas
This is a farewell. In 1686 the Gouden Leeuw, flagship of the Admiralty of Amsterdam, comes home to the IJ for the last time, thanked for twenty years of service, her billowing sails lit by late-afternoon light. On the left a states yacht fires a salute, while in front a yacht of the city of Amsterdam sails towards her. Behind lies the skyline of the eastern part of the harbour. She had carried Lieutenant Admiral Cornelis Tromp at the Battle of the Texel in 1673; after this tribute she was broken up. Van de Velde signed and dated the huge canvas on a piece of driftwood.
The real ship Built in 1666 for the Admiralty of Amsterdam and for a time the largest Dutch warship, about 50 metres long with 80 to 82 guns. She was Lieutenant Admiral Cornelis Tromp's flagship in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, including the Battle of the Texel in 1673, and was broken up in 1686.
Sources Wikimedia Commons · historiek.net · Wikipedia
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
States yacht with the arms of Holland, a boeier yacht and a tjalk Unnamed
A River View, c. 1690 to 1700
Artist Abraham Storck (1644 to 1708)
Where to see it National Gallery, London (NG146)
Medium Oil on canvas
Dawn breaks behind the sails of a man-of-war and there is hardly a ripple on the river. In the foreground Storck sets out Dutch craft with detailed accuracy: a boeier yacht, a tjalk with a Dutch flag crowded with men in black cocked hats, and a states yacht with the arms of Holland and a silver lamp on her stern. The banks are busy with fishermen and onlookers, windmills and spires, and one church looks like St Lawrence in Rotterdam. But the land is largely imaginary, and the glowing sky, the National Gallery notes, seems more Mediterranean than Dutch: an idealised, romantic vision of life on a Dutch river.
“The soft glow of the sky seems more Mediterranean than Northern European”
The vessels Unnamed. The boeier yacht was an inshore vessel with a leeboard, the tjalk a heavy barge, and the statenjacht an official vessel carrying members of the States General and important foreign visitors.
Sources National Gallery
No free image of this work exists. The photograph shows the National Gallery, London, where the original is kept. Photo: Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. See the work at the museum
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch warships in the Strait of Gibraltar, 1694 Unnamed
Warships in a Heavy Storm, c. 1695
Artist Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630 to 1708)
Where to see it Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (SK-A-4856)
Medium Oil on canvas
Dark storm clouds gather and five ships are caught close under the coast; the second from the left has only her foremast standing, and wreckage drifts in the waves. The last sunlight breaking between the grey clouds makes the violence of nature felt. The Rijksmuseum links the picture to the storm that struck some thirty Dutch warships escorting a merchant fleet in the Strait of Gibraltar in early 1694, and it was once titled after the Hollandia and the Ridderschap, yet its Dutch catalogue note doubts that it records a real event. It speaks of the unpredictable elements and human frailty. Bakhuizen is said to have gone out on the water in bad weather to study sky and sea.
The vessels In early 1694 some thirty Dutch warships sailing to protect a merchant fleet from French attack met a heavy storm in the Strait of Gibraltar; several sank or were badly damaged, among them the Hollandia.
Sources Rijksmuseum · wga.hu
Image: Ludolf Bakhuizen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
Dutch-built man-of-war under a Jerusalem cross flag, with feluccas and a galley Unnamed
Italianate Harbour View with a Fantasy Building and Man of War, 1697
Artist Abraham Storck (1644 to 1708)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC0929)
Medium Oil on canvas
A dream of the south painted by a man with no known journey there. A Dutch-built warship flying the Jerusalem cross and a red ensign with a golden lion, perhaps alluding to a Venetian ship, lies off a quay crowded with merchants in eastern dress, bales, an obelisk and a fountain, while feluccas wait at the foot of a palace stair crowned with Rome's horse tamers, Castor and Pollux. Storck probably worked from prints, and he even set the lantern of Amsterdam's town hall on the palazzo roof. Such inventions, Greenwich notes, anticipated the Italian capriccio of the next century.
The vessels An invented scene. The warship is built in the Dutch style; the small feluccas beside the quay were used at the time to carry passengers between harbour towns in Italy and France.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich · Wikipedia
Dutch Golden Age · Painting
HMS Royal Sovereign (1701) Named ship
The English Ship 'Royal Sovereign' with a Royal Yacht in a Light Air, 1703
Artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 to 1707)
Where to see it National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (BHC3614)
Medium Oil on canvas
Painted four years before his death, this is the old master's portrait of what was regarded as the greatest ship in the world. The Royal Sovereign lies at anchor firing a salute to port, the Royal Standard at the main, recognisable by the great horse and rider carved on her taffrail. Boats and barges ply around her stern, a fishing pink lies in the foreground, and a ketch-rigged royal yacht, probably the Isabella, rides on the right. Greenwich suggests the scene may be Spithead on 4 June 1702, when Prince George of Denmark dined aboard. The picture later belonged to H. A. J. Munro of Novar, patron and friend of Turner.
“She was regarded as the greatest ship in the world and her decorations were elaborately carved”
The real ship A 100-gun first-rate built by Fisher Harding at Woolwich Dockyard in 1701. Her carving was so costly that the Admiralty afterwards severely restricted decoration on its ships.
Sources Royal Museums Greenwich
Image: Willem van de Velde the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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