By Willem van de Velde, the Younger. 1673-1707

The full name of this painting is “Nightly Fighting Between Cornelis Tromp on the ‘Gouden Leeuw’ and Sir Edward Spragg on the ‘Royal Prince’ During the Battle of Texel (Kijkduin) on August 21, 1673: Episode From the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-74)”. In this batlle the Dutch navy fought the combined force of the Royal Navy and the French Fleet, the alliance brought by the Treaty of Dover. French King Louis XIV invaded the Dutch Republic in 1672 seeking to gain control over the Spanish Netherlands. A secret treaty with King Charles II pulled England into the conflict and started the third Anglo-Dutch War.

The picture displays an episode from the Battle of Texel with Dutch ships in their failed attempt to capture the English flagship ‘Royal Prince’ (in the center). In this engagement the flagship of the Dutch admiral Cornelis Tromp the ‘Gouden Leeuw’ has been badly damaged and is seen sinking to the right of the ‘Prince‘.

The painting is exhibited in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

continue reading.....

The Battle of the Texel was fought between the Dutch and an Anglo-French fleet near Texel Island, off the Dutch coast. The low horizon, dramatic lighting and gunsmoke render this majestic work an immediate experience for the viewer. It was painted in 1687 as a Dutch commission, when van de Velde had already long been an ‘English’ court painter. The picture may even have been ordered by Admiral Cornelis Tromp, since it focuses on his flagship the Golden Leeuw (Golden Lion).

continue reading.....