Page of The Gouden Leeuw before Amsterdam by VELDE, Willem van de, the Younger in the Web Gallery of Art, a searchable image collection and database of European paintings and sculptures (1100-1850)

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The "Gouden Leeuw" before Amsterdam

1686
Oil on canvas, 180 x 300 cm
Historisch Museum, Amsterdam

Seventeenth-century pictures defined the Dutch scene not only in terms of shared history but also as a site of productivity. While landscapes, city scenes, and animal paintings advertised the ingenious foundations of Dutch economic success, other genres - marine painting foremost - acknowledged its more significant basis in overseas trade and colonial ventures. Although many seascapes were available cheaply, the best marine painters were among the most highly rewarded artists. The States-General, city governments, and trading companies commissioned views of the Dutch naval and trading fleets, before a prosperous harbour, in battle, or at sea. The marine specialist Willem van de Velde II painted the heroic vessel Gouden Leeuw in the bustle of Amsterdam harbour.