Battle for the Gold Staff (Dominion of the World)

Adam Willaerts, c. 1615 - c. 1630

Two gentlemen vie for control of a gold staff. It symbolizes dominion over the world’s seas. For whoever rules the sea, controls trade, beggars his foes, and becomes rich himself. The man at the right stands for the Netherlands, the one at the left for Spain. The men next to them personifying England and Venice, among other nations, look on in suspense. The scene in the background, the Republic’s naval victory at Gibraltar in 1607, seems to predict who will triumph.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-4116
  • Dimensionssupport: height 38.4 cm x width 55.9 cm x thickness 0.5 cm, outer size: depth 6 cm (support incl. frame)
  • Physical characteristicsoil on panel

Discover more

more by Adam Willaerts

The Defeat of the Spanish at Gibraltar by a Dutch Fleet under the Command of Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck, 25 April 1607

Adam Willaerts (signed by artist), 1639

The Defeat of the Spanish at Gibraltar by a Dutch Fleet under the Command of Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck, 25 April 1607

Victory over the Spanish near Gibraltar by a Fleet Commanded by Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck, 25 April 1607

Adam Willaerts (signed by artist), 1617

Victory over the Spanish near Gibraltar by a Fleet Commanded by Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck, 25 April 1607

Ships off a Coast

Adam Willaerts (signed by artist), 1628

Ships off a Coast

Adam Willaerts

Allegory of the Dutch Victory over the Spanish Fleet at Gibraltar, 25 April 1607

c. 1615 - c. 1630

Technical notes

The support is a single oak panel bevelled on all sides. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1582. The panel could have been ready for use by 1593, but a date in or after 1599 is more likely. The ground is transparent, followed by paint layers which were smoothly applied, with some impasto for the highlights. The horizontal grain of the panel shows through the paint layers. The figures were reserved.

Scientific examination and reports

  • technical report: M. van de Laar, RMA, 24 november 2004
  • dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 29 april 2005

Condition

Fair. There are some areas of lifting paint, particularly in the centre, probably due to a problem in the panel. There are many discoloured retouchings.

Provenance

…; sale, Amsterdam (Mak van Waay), 7 May 1963, no. 487;…; sale, Amsterdam (Mak van Waay), 18 May 1965, no. 606, as Abraham Willaerts, fl. 2,405, to the museum

Object number: SK-A-4116

The artist

Biography

Adam Willaerts (London 1577 - Utrecht 1664)

According to De Bie and Houbraken, Adam Willaerts was born in Antwerp, but recently discovered documents show that he was the son of a Flemish immigrant in London. The baptismal register of Austin Friars Church shows that he was baptized on 21 July 1577. The family probably moved to Amsterdam around 1589. In 1602, Adam Willaerts and Salomon Vredeman de Vries were commissioned to paint the organ shutters in Utrecht Cathedral. He became a citizen of Utrecht six years later, and it was around then that he painted his first known dated work, The Dutch East India Company Fleet near an Island off the Coast of West Africa, in 1608 or 1609.1Amsterdams Historisch Museum; illustrated in Bol 1973, p. 63, fig. 59.

That Willaerts was an important figure among Utrecht artists is clear from his active involvement in founding the city’s Guild of St Luke in 1611, and from the fact that he served as its dean for many years. He was in regular touch with other Utrecht artists, such as Roelant Savery, Cornelis van Poelenburch, Herman Saftleven and Bernard Zwaerdecroon.

It can be deduced from the guild accounts that he taught a large number of ‘apprentice boys’. He was married and had six children, three of whom also became painters: Cornelis (?-1666), Abraham (c. 1613-69) and Isaac (c. 1620-93).

Much of Willaerts’s oeuvre consists of marines and coastal landscapes. He also made seascapes featuring biblical figures. Willaerts regularly received specific commissions, among others from the burgomasters of Utrecht, the Dordrecht Chamber of Justice2Dordrechts Museum, View of Dordrecht; illustrated in Nelemans 1999, II, fig. 3. and the States of Utrecht (SK-A-1387). Through the artist Simon de Passe he also received a request from King Christian IV of Denmark to contribute to a series of paintings for Kronborg Castle. He also painted for the open market. Adam Willaerts died in 1664. His last known dated work, Shipwreck in a Violent Storm, is from 1656.3Private collection.

Everhard Korthals Altes, 2007

References
De Bie 1661, pp. 111-12; Von Sandrart 1675 (1925), p. 176; Houbraken I, 1718, p. 60; Schulz in Thieme/Becker XXXVI, 1947, pp. 8-9; Muller 1880, pp. 92, 96, 98, 126; Bok in Amsterdam 1993, pp. 325-26; Giltaij in Rotterdam-Berlin 1996, p. 113; Briels 1997, pp. 407-08

Entry

In the foreground a Spanish gentleman and a Dutch sailor are fighting over a gold stick as several people look on. This is an illustration of the power struggle between Spain and the Dutch Republic for control over the maritime trade routes to the Indies. The spectators include Englishmen and Venetians, who were greatly concerned about the outcome. The Battle of Gibraltar at which the Dutch defeated the Spanish fleet,4Israel 1995, p. 402. is being fought in the background. This victory put the Republic in a better position to conduct trade with Italy and the Levant through the Straits of Gibraltar.

A pamphlet of 1608 details the allegory of the struggle for Gibraltar at length,5It was reprinted in 1618 and 1631. See Knuttel 1889, I, nos. 1466, 2760, 2761. as well as depicting a fight between the Spanish ‘Señor’ and the Dutch ‘Sailor’. The figures’ dress may have been borrowed from costume books. The garb of the man immediately to the right of the sailor, for example, resembles that of the Venetian magistrate in Cesare Vecellio’s book of 1590.6Vecellio I, 1859, no. 87. With thanks to Bianca du Mortier.

The painting is neither signed nor dated, but the use of colour and Willaerts’s distinctive foam-flecked waves make the attribution very plausible. It was probably made between 1615 and 1630, given the similarities to the artist’s early work.

Everhard Korthals Altes, 2007

See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues
See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements

This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 344.

Collection catalogues

1976, p. 606, no. A 4116; 2007, no. 344

Citation

E. Korthals Altes, 2007, 'Adam Willaerts, Allegory of the Dutch Victory over the Spanish Fleet at Gibraltar, 25 April 1607, c. 1615 - c. 1630', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20028754

(accessed 6 December 2025 12:38:32).

Footnotes

  • 1Amsterdams Historisch Museum; illustrated in Bol 1973, p. 63, fig. 59.
  • 2Dordrechts Museum, View of Dordrecht; illustrated in Nelemans 1999, II, fig. 3.
  • 3Private collection.
  • 4Israel 1995, p. 402.
  • 5It was reprinted in 1618 and 1631. See Knuttel 1889, I, nos. 1466, 2760, 2761.
  • 6Vecellio I, 1859, no. 87. With thanks to Bianca du Mortier.