Two Dutch East Indiamen under full sail

Wenceslaus Hollar was a Bohemian-born printmaker whose etchings circulated widely in seventeenth-century Europe. Active in Prague, Frankfurt, Cologne, Antwerp, and London, he produced views, costumes, portraits, maps, natural-history subjects, and maritime prints with a distinctive precision of line. This untitled etching of two Dutch East Indiamen was first published in Amsterdam in 1647 and is signed at lower right W. Hollar fecit.

The print shows two large Dutch East Indiamen under full sail in a choppy sea. The leading vessel at left flies the colours of the Dutch Republic and the city of Amsterdam, while a second ship follows beyond it, accompanied by smaller vessels in the distance. Hollar uses fine etched lines to distinguish the swell of the sea, the movement of clouds, and the rigging and hulls of the ships.