# Ships in a Calm Sea [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [VELDE, Willem van de, the Younger]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 42 x 48 cm ## Commentary Ships in a Calm Sea 1653 Oil on canvas, 42 x 48 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg In this work a royal yacht bearing the arms of the House of Orange anchors in a port. It is surrounded by various large sailing vessels, upon which Dutch prosperity was founded, whilst on the shore various figures are bathing in the morning sun. The painting was part of a collection of ninety-five old master paintings sold to Catherine the Great \(1729-1796\) by the famous Swiss collector François Tronchin \(1704-1798\). Tronchin was a financier and civic leader who was a friend of the philosophers Denis Diderot and Voltaire. After selling much of his collection to the Empress in 1770, he continued to advise Catherine on her future purchases. ## Related artworks - [A Dutch Ship at Anchor]() - [A Kaag and a Smalschip at Anchor]() - [A States Yacht and Other Vessels in Light Air]() - [An Indiaman in a Gale off a Rocky Coast]() - [Blockhouses on the Amstel outside Amsterdam]() - [Calm - Dutch Smalschips and a Rowing Boat]() - [Calm: Dutch Ships Coming to Anchor]() - [Calm Sea]() - [Calm Sea]() - [Calm Sea]() - [Entrance to a Dutch Port]() - [Marine Landscape]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()