Description
Willem van de Velde II was one of the leading 17th-century Dutch marine painters. Trained by his father, Willem van de Velde I, with whom he later worked.
Van de Velde II depicted both rough and calm seas and included almost every type of boat to be found in his day, from warships to commercial vessels. The precision and detail of his drawings have made them extremely useful for a knowledge of ship-building in the 17th century.
The present canvas, The Dutch Fleet in the Goeree Roads, depicts the Dutch fleet moored in the Goeree Roads at the entrance to the Haringvliet, one of the canals on the estuary of the Mose. It is signed with the artist’s initials in a piece of wood floating on the bottom-left corner.
