Ships in a Stormy Sea

This dramatic image captures the excitement and danger of sea travel in the 17th century. Willem van de Velde the Younger, son of a prominent painter of naval battle scenes, had first-hand knowledge of sailing, and his paintings were valued for their realistic depictions of ships and sailing tactics. The spotlighted ship in the foreground is a kaag, a light fishing vessel. Van de Velde shows it sailing close-hauled in the strong breeze: one of the most difficult sailing maneuvers, in which the vessel sails into the wind as directly as it can without causing the sails to flap uselessly.

Images of ships at sea became popular in Dutch art in the 17th century. Seafaring—for fishing and whaling, for trade with the Americas, Asia, and Africa (including the trade in enslaved Africans), and for the activities of the dominant Dutch naval fleet—was essential to the economy and power of the Dutch Republic and thus a common subject for displaying Dutch prosperity.