Artwork

Episode from the Four Day Battle at Sea, 11-14 June 1666, in the second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-67)

Episode from the Four Day Battle at Sea, 11-14 June 1666, in the second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-67) is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Willem van de Velde the elder. It dates from 1690 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

As a history painting, the work serves as a visual record of this conflict, focusing on the maritime action and the vessels involved.

The painting depicts a specific episode from the Four Days' Battle, a major naval engagement fought between June 11 and 14, 1666, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. As a history painting, the work serves as a visual record of this conflict, focusing on the maritime action and the vessels involved. The composition centers on the chaos of naval warfare, featuring boats engaged in combat on the open sea.

Created in Amsterdam in 1679, the artwork functions as a historical document, preserving the memory of the battle through a detailed representation of the ships and the intensity of the fight.

Technique & Style

Executed in 1679, this history painting by Willem van de Velde the Elder utilizes oil paint applied to a canvas support. The work measures 151 cm in height and 235 cm in width, reflecting the substantial scale typical of large-format maritime narratives produced in Amsterdam during this period. As a depiction of the Four Days' Battle, the piece employs the artist's characteristic approach to rendering naval engagements, focusing on the chaotic arrangement of vessels within the composition.

The medium and materials align with standard Dutch Golden Age practices for major historical commissions intended for public or institutional display.

History & Provenance

The painting is dated by inscription to 1679 and is recorded as made in Amsterdam, aligning with Willem van de Velde the Elder’s documented activity there during the late 1670s. It entered the Rijksmuseum’s holdings as part of the national collection, where it remains located. No archival evidence indicates a specific patron or commission for this work; its creation likely responded to the broader market for battle imagery and the artist’s practice of recording contemporary naval events decades after they occurred.

Overview

Willem van de Velde the Elder painted this oil work in 1690, depicting a segment of the Four Days’ Battle (11–14 June 1666) of the Second Anglo‑Dutch War. The canvas captures a tumultuous naval clash on the open sea, with a dense array of vessels caught in combat, smoke, and fire. It belongs to the Dutch Golden Age of seascape painting and is presently housed in the Rijksmuseum.

Context

The Four Days’ Battle was one of the longest and bloodiest sea engagements of the Second Anglo‑Dutch War, involving hundreds of ships from both fleets. Van de Velde, whose father was a shipwright, specialized in accurate depictions of naval vessels, making his works valuable both as art and as historical documentation for naval architects and strategists of the era.

Episode from the Four Days Battle at Sea, 11-14 June 1666, in the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-67), Willem van de Velde the elder

Own this work as a print

Artist & collection

Artist

Willem van de Velde the elder

Willem van de Velde the Elder (1610/11 – 13 December 1693) was a Dutch Golden Age seascape painter, who produced many precise drawings of ships and ink paintings of fleets, but later learned to use oil paints like his son.