A number of vessels are shown moving briskly through the waves in a strong breeze. The boat, on the left, is probably a kaag, designed for use on inland waterways, with the leeboard visible. It flies the Dutch flag. A group of figures sits in the stern and another group in the bow including a figure dressed in red. Kaags were often used as ferries in the Zuider Zee which conveyed cargo and people to and from seagoing ships. The two focal kaags, filled with passengers, are very finely executed and are testament to Porcellis’ skill as a draughtsman. Their sails are visibly filled by the gust of wind which blows from right to left across the painting. At the same time, this strong breeze beats the water into dark, robust waves. The crests of the waves are blanched and spumescent. By contrast, the sky appears static. Awkwardly painted purplish clouds are shown swirling into the composition from the far right. On the far left another small craft sails on the same course as the kaag. In the central distance a strip of land is shown with buildings and a church on the skyline. These landmarks are difficult to identify. The painting was probably painted in Antwerp and may depict the waterways surrounding the city.

Examples of Porcellis’ early work, such as the ‘Storm at Sea’ and ‘Sea Battle at Night’ (Royal Collection), both painted before 1612, show relatively high horizons and stylized waves decorated with tiny white curls. These scenes, as well as the present painting, closely resemble, in many respects, those portrayed by Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom and the previous generation of marine artists. The high horizon of this painting and the pointed demarcation between the dark sea and ashen sky are, also, tangible qualities in the work of Vroom (BHC0728). Therefore, on stylistic grounds, it is likely that the painting dates to around 1618.

Jan Porcellis has long enjoyed the reputation established for him by the seventeenth century artist and author Samuel van Hoogstraten, who hailed him as ‘the great Raphael of sea painting’. The son of a Flemish Protestant captain, Porcellis was probably born around 1584 in the city of Ghent. Where – and with whom – he trained remains unknown. Although Houbraken asserted that he was apprenticed in Haarlem to Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom. A lack of documentary evidence surrounding Porcellis’ early work, coupled with a distinct incongruity between the works of the two artists, has made this statement difficult to substantiate. Porcellis is likely to have lived and worked in both London and Rotterdam during the early seventeenth century, before leaving to find greater professional success in Antwerp. He entered the Antwerp Guild of St Luke in 1617, before moving back to Haarlem in 1622. Porcellis became an immensely successful painter, whose wise investments included several properties in the town of Zoeterwoude. His final pictures were painted in 1631 and he died in January 1632. This painting is signed with monogram 'IP' on the Dutch flag.