A Fleet at Sea

Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom

National Gallery of Art

The painting depicts a seascape from an elevated perspective, showing a low horizon line with large ships sailing on the water. In the center is the largest ship, with four sails and several colorful flags, including one with horizontal stripes of red, white, and blue, and one large golden flag with a red animal that looks like a lion. Countless small people are on the deck of this boat, with some climbing ropes to get to the different sails. In the background are other ships, with a few smaller sailboats and one rowboat. On the horizon are the indistinct blue outlines of buildings on a far-off coastline. The ocean is rough, with large, dark blue waves topped with white surf. The sky is dark and stormy, with dark gray clouds at the top fading to a lighter gray near the horizon.