Artist: Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom
Date: 1640
Size: 144 x 279 cm
Technique: Oil On Canvas
The centrepiece of this painting is a remarkably large four-master, of which there were only two in the Republic’s fleet around 1600. The arms of Amsterdam on one of the flags identify it as De Hollandse Tuyn, which was built in Amsterdam, whereas one of the other ships, De Leeuw, was from Rotterdam.3 In 1603, Paulus van Caerden sailed to Brazil in De Hollandse Tuyn to fight the Spanish, and returned two years later. He is probably the man who is being welcomed on the beach by a number of dignitaries.4 It is not clear exactly where this event is taking place. Although undated, the painting may have been made around 1605, the year in which the expedition returned. De Hollandse Tuyn was sold to Tuscany in 1606, so Vroom probably painted the scene before that happened. It is as if the artist is viewing the scene from an imaginary, high vantage point. He used this device at both the beginning and end of his career, so unfortunately it is of no help in establishing the date. It is possible that the work was commissioned by the Amsterdam Admiralty, since some of the contents of East India House originally came from the Admiralty’s conference building.5 It is less plausible that it was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company, because De Hollandse Tuyn never sailed in one of its fleets.6 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. 335.
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