A State Yacht and Other Craft in Calm Water

This type of subject in the oeuvres of Van de Cappelle, Willem van de Velde, and other masters active in the 1650s and 1660s derives from a group of "naval parades" by Simon de Vlieger, and above all from his panel of 1649 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. In a broad view, the theme of these paintings, which flourished right after the Treaty of Münster (1648) is peace in the Netherlands after many years of war.