The Flemish painter Sebastian Castro is recorded to have been active in Antwerp from the 1630s. This oil painting shows two Spanish ships at anchor in an estuary with a rowing boat to the far right of the composition. The relative tonality of the colour scheme, as well as the low horizon and the build-up of clouds in the background, links the picture to the stylistic developments of Dutch painting in the first half of the 17th century, but the more theatrical lighting and the stylisation in the depiction of the ships mark it as painted in a ‘Flemish’ style.