Calm sea with fishing boats

Painted in 1659, this calm-sea fishing scene reflects Van de Cappelle's sustained interest in the everyday working life of Dutch maritime culture alongside his more prestigious ceremonial subjects. Fishing boats — boeiers, hookers, and pinken — were ubiquitous on Dutch coastal and inland waters, their humble forms offering Van de Cappelle opportunities to study how hulls and rigging read against different sky conditions. Unlike the grand marine painters of the period who favored dramatic storms or naval battles, Van de Cappelle consistently preferred serenity, a preference that reads as a deliberate aesthetic position rather than a limitation. The work entered the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands Art Collection, where it represents the quieter register of Dutch marine painting at its most technically accomplished.

The calm sea allows Van de Cappelle to exploit reflection — hull shapes and rigging are echoed in the water below with slight distortion, doubling the compositional elements. He renders these reflections with horizontal strokes of slightly lighter value than the water itself, suggesting the luminous shimmer of a flat sea.