# The Capture of the Spanish Silver Fleet [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [UNKNOWN MASTER, Dutch]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Engraving ## Commentary The engraving depicts the capture of the Spanish Silver Fleet in the Bay of Matanzas by a Dutch fleet under the command of Piet Hein. It is taken from Isaac Commelin "Frederick Hendrick van Nassauw, Prince va\(n\) Orangien, zyn leven en bedryf", Amsterdam, 1651. Isaac Commelin \(1598-1676\) was a Dutch historian. In 1621, after the expiration of the Twelve Years' Truce with Spain, the newly founded Dutch West India Company \(WIC\) was given a monopoly on trade in West Africa, South America, the Caribbean, and North America. Delft, Rotterdam and Dordrecht formed a joint chamber, and each of these cities set up an office. One of the directors of the Rotterdam office was a captain and merchant from Delfshaven named Piet Hein. Seven years later, then an admiral in the WIC, he captured a Spanish treasure fleet sailing home from Mexico via Cuba. The booty was worth 11 million guilders, and Hein became a national hero. ## Related artworks - [A Young Woman in a Landscape]() - [Frontispiece]() - [Illustration]() - [Initiation of a Bentvueghel in Rome]() - [Interior of a Dutch Shop Selling Gold and Silver]() - [Johan van Oldenbarnevelt]() - [Portrait of a Silversmith in His Workshop \(detail\)]() - [Portrait of a Silversmith in His Workshop]() - [Portrait of a Young Man]() - [Sara de Peyster at the Age of Two and a Half]() - [Still-Life with Books]() - [The King Drinks!]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()