Battle of Sole Bay (panel 2 of 4)

Dated to 1672 and held at the Guildhall in London, this oil on canvas is the second panel of a four-part series depicting the Battle of Sole Bay, fought on 28 May 1672 between England and France against the Dutch Republic. Sole Bay — off the Suffolk coast near Southwold — was the opening engagement of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, in which the Dutch fleet under De Ruyter surprised the Allied fleet at anchor and inflicted severe damage, killing the English vice-admiral the Earl of Sandwich. Van de Velde's four-panel treatment of this battle at the Guildhall constitutes one of the most ambitious narrative marine painting projects in the seventeenth century. The Guildhall's civic importance to London makes these panels a statement about the battle's significance to English naval history despite — or perhaps because of — its ambiguous outcome for England.

Oil on canvas, second panel of four, depicting the main engagement phase of the battle. The composition must coordinate visually with its companion panels while depicting the specific phase of the action it represents. Multiple vessels in active combat, gun smoke, and disturbed water create the scene's visual complexity.