English: An English Merchant Ship in a Mediterranean Harbour in a Light Breeze with Many Other Vessels

A scene of a busy Mediterranean harbour showing shipping at anchor. The profile of a town has been positioned horizontally in the distance, compositionally dividing the painting and with sky occupying half of the image. The high tower shown on the extreme left may indicate a lighthouse. The principal buildings are visible on the right, where three round towers and a short domed tower beyond form a gate into a walled town. To the left of the towers there is a row of small vessels which appear to be entering a small inner harbour. To the left of centre several buildings are shown flying the St George's flag.

In the middle distance on the left two ships are shown, one nearly in stern view and the other broadside, to port. To the right of them, in starboard-bow view is an English merchant ship. At the main it is flying a St George's flag and a red pendant, and also displays a red ensign and a St George jack. Figures are shown actively engaged high in the rigging and on the deck. There are several small boats near the stern of the ship. On its port beam is a galley with a white ensign lying alongside a small ship, also with a St George's flag, and another galley is shown further away. Lying in the harbour to the right, in port-broadside view, is a small vessel of Mediterranean type. She flies a white ensign and a white flag at the main which could be either Spanish or Neapolitan. She is firing a salute which may relate to the foreshore activity. Right of centre in the foreground a small boat laden with people, including some English troops, is shown preparing to leave the shore. It prominently displays a St George's cross which is being held by a figure in the bow. Another figure is shown standing up in the boat gesturing with his right arm towards the ship firing a salute. Several figures wearing turbans are shown holding the oars. A man wearing military dress sits in the stern while another man in military dress is being carried out to the boat on the shoulders of a man in Eastern dress. The man being carried may have dismounted from the white horse on the shore. On the shore on the left small boats are being laden with supplies. At the water's edge in the foreground there are people in Eastern dress and turbans looking to the right towards the harbour. On the right is a trumpeter on a brown horse riding in the water towards a small boat. The horseman's trumpet has a St George flag on it. Close in to shore in the central foreground is a small vessel lying in port-broadside view flying a red ensign. Several turbaned figures are shown on board. The presence of English troops in the form of the trumpeter and the military flag in the bow of the boat indicate a port under English occupation, such as Tangier, which was under occupation from 1662 to 1683. The identity of the port is unclear, a situation not helped by the fact that the right side of the painting has been cut off.

The artist travelled to the Mediterranean in 1694 with the fleet of Admiral Russell. Russell wintered in Cadiz and it is not known when van de Velde returned to England, but it is clear that this painting commemorates an event witnessed on his journey although it has also been suggested that it is a composite, incorporating observations of more than one place. The artist has also shown similarities which indicate that he was influenced by other contemporary Dutch artists' work. Van de Velde was the younger son of Willem van de Velde the Elder.

Born in Leiden, he studied under Simon de Vlieger in Weesp and in 1652 moved back to Amsterdam. He worked in his father's studio and developed the skill of carefully drawing ships in tranquil settings. He changed his subject matter, however, when he came with his father to England in 1672-73, by a greater concentration on royal yachts, men-of-war and storm scenes. From this time painting sea battles for Charles II and his brother (and Lord High Admiral) James, Duke of York, and other patrons, became a priority. Unlike his father's works, however, they were not usually eyewitness accounts. After his father's death in 1693 his continuing role as an official marine painter obliged him to be more frequently present at significant maritime events. Signed and dated on the shore in the middle, 'W.V.Velde J 1694'.

An English Merchant Ship in a Mediterranean Harbour in a Light Breeze with Many Other Vessels