“Calm: Dutch Ships coming to Anchor” by Willem van de Velde the Younger in the Great Gallery of The Wallace Collection, Marylebone, London, England

From The Wallace Collection website:

Willem van de Velde the Younger’s stately Dutch seascape, Calm: Dutch Ships coming to Anchor, is one of the most important works produced by the van de Velde workshop during its Dutch period, before the family moved to England in 1671 – 2. The ship in the left foreground flies the flag and pendant of the Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch fleet. It has been identified as the Liefde commanded by Cornelis Tromp, who was briefly Commander of the Fleet in 1665. On the far right sails the Leeuwarden and in the distance the tower of Brandaris on the island of Terschelling can just be discerned. In view of its subject, this painting may have been commissioned by Tromp in or soon after 1665, to commemorate his brief command. It provides a wonderful visual counterpoint to Rubens’s bustling vision of the Flemish landscape on the opposite wall. In The Rainbow Landscape, Rubens celebrates the agrarian wealth of Flanders, while van de Velde in this painting commemorates the seafaring prowess of the Dutch in the seventeenth century.

It was acquired by the 4th Marquess of Hertford in 1846.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: The Wallace Collection, London
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633 – 1707)
Date: about 1665

Image details
Date: 8 December 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 400
Licensing: Image of a Wallace Collection asset. This image cannot be licensed.