# The Explosion of the Spanish Flagship during the Battle of Gibraltar [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [WIERINGEN, Cornelis Claesz van]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 137 x 187 cm ## Commentary The Explosion of the Spanish Flagship during the Battle of Gibraltar c. 1621 Oil on canvas, 137 x 187 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam The painting depicts the explosion of the Spanish admiral ship during the naval battle at Gibraltar, April 25, 1607, when the Spanish warship is rammed by a Dutch ship. People are hurled into the air by the explosion. In the foreground, sailors try to rescue themselves in sloops, others swim in the water. It was probably painted as a test piece for the great Battle of Gibraltar, commissioned by the Amsterdam Admiralty in 1621. ## Related artworks - [Capture of Damiate]() - [Coastal Landscape with a Warship at Anchor]() - [The Battle of Gibraltar, 25 April 1607]() - [The Spanish Armada off the English coast]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()