Large Ships and Boats in a Calm

Dated 1660 and held at Apsley House — Wellington's London residence — this calm-water scene of large ships and smaller boats belongs to the year the Dutch Republic celebrated the restoration of the House of Orange and England celebrated the return of Charles II. The early 1660s were relatively peaceful for Dutch maritime commerce, and the mood of this composition reflects that stability: large ships at ease in calm conditions, smaller craft attending them, the sea benign and productive. Apsley House's collection was assembled primarily around the Duke of Wellington's spoils of the Peninsular War, including works from the Spanish royal collection, but Dutch marine paintings were acquired separately as part of fashionable English taste for the genre. The 1660 date places the work at a pivotal moment in Van de Velde's career, shortly before the increasingly violent Anglo-Dutch Wars would give his subject matter a far more martial character.

Canvas with an expansive, luminous sky dominating the upper two-thirds of the composition. Water in the lower third is handled with exceptional delicacy — barely perceptible surface movement recorded in slight tonal variations. Large ship hulls are painted with warm umber and ochre tones that contrast with the cool sky, drawing the eye along the vessel profile.