The Burning of the 'Royal James'

The Royal James, flagship of the Earl of Sandwich, was set ablaze by Dutch fireships at the Battle of Solebay on 7 June 1672 and burned with the loss of hundreds of men including Sandwich himself. The destruction of the Royal James was the most catastrophic single ship loss of the engagement and attracted multiple painted commemorations. Van de Velde, present during the battle, recorded the burning from close range and produced several versions of the subject, each working from the same cache of eyewitness drawings. The Government Art Collection holds this version as part of a broader group of works documenting English naval history. Fire at sea was among the most terrifying fates a seventeenth-century sailor could face — there was no effective way to fight a fireship attack, and a burning first-rate carried hundreds of men and tons of gunpowder. Van de Velde's repeated returns to this subject suggest both its commercial appeal and its genuine emotional weight for contemporary audiences.

The painting's drama depends on contrasting the orange-red fire and thick black smoke against the cooler blues and greys of sea and sky. Flame is built up in warm glazes and highlighted with near-white impasto at the most intense points. The surrounding vessels are painted in relatively cooler, darker tones to throw the conflagration into relief.