The support, a plain-weave canvas, has been lined. The tacking edges have been preserved at the bottom and top. On the left and right the paint extends to the very edge of the canvas, which suggests that it may have been trimmed here a little. Cusping is visible on the left, suggesting that the painting’s dimensions may have been reduced only slightly. The ground is white. The small ships and the animals were painted over the sea, while reserves were left for the larger ships.

Poor. The painting is worn, particularly in the sky, which has been heavily retouched. The masts and rigging were restored in an inconsistent manner. There is an old, restored tear of approximately 12 cm close to the large ship.

…; ? collection C.M.E.C. Graaf van Bylandt (?-1893), London;¹¹Note RMA.…; sale, Henrik Houck (1820-93, Deventer), Amsterdam (C.F. Roos), 7 May 1895, no. 133 (‘Les Espagnols en Amérique. Scène extrêmement curieuse, représentant de formiables bâtiments de guerre espagnols, débarquant sur la côte de l’Amérique leurs chargements de chevaux. Les équipages hissent ces animaux par dessus le bord, pour les faire gagner la terre, en nageant. Signé du monogramme. Toile 104 x 207 cm’), fl. 130, to the conservator W.A. Hopman, Bussum; from whom, fl. 152, to the museum, May 1895²²RANH, ARS, Kop, inv. 290, p. 146, no. 1287 (15 May 1895); RANH, ARS, IS, inv. 175, no. 98 (20 May 1895, no. 1270).

Object number: SK-A-1629

Like Hendrick Vroom Van Wieringen usually depicted events from the recent past which must have had a special significance for the original owners of the paintings. In this case it was probably the Armada, which was routed by the English at Gravelines in 1588 and then scattered by a violent storm.⁴⁴Bol 1973, p. 33; McKee 1989, p. 226. The painting shows several Spanish men-of-war sailing just off a rocky coast. The large ship in the middle is flanked by two three-masters placed a little further to the background. Van Wieringen painted a very unusual subject, and that is the moment when horses and mules were thrown overboard to conserve the stocks of water and food.⁵⁵Bol 1973, p. 33. The work was probably commissioned, and because the English drove off the Armada it is not inconceivable that it was painted for an Englishman.⁶⁶Written communication R. Brand, 2004, RMA.

Van Wieringen’s style is distinctive. The deep blue-green water and the dark tone of the two galleons contrast with the bright colours of the setting. The precision with which the masts, rigging and sails are depicted is at marked variance with the light sky and clouds. The horses and mules are not very lifelike, being rather schematic. The painting can be dated to the early 1620s, given its affinity with Van Wieringen’s works from that period.

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. 340.

Willis 1911, p. 21; Bol 1973, p. 33; Keyes 1979, p. 5

1903, p. 299, no. 2678; 1934, p. 318, no. 2678; 1960, p. 342, no. 2678; 1976, p. 604, no. A 1629; 2007, no. 340

E. Korthals Altes, 2007, 'Cornelis Claesz. van Wieringen, The Spanish Armada off the English Coast, c. 1620 - c. 1625', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20026959