This tiny panel depicts shipping off a rocky coast in rough weather. Five vessels are shown sailing across large, rolling waves. Four of these vessels are visible in the far background, close to the horizon, and one is shown in the centre of the composition. Seagulls are following this ship which, like the others, is under reduced sail suitable to the conditions. She is seen, in starboard-broadside view, running before the wind in a rough sea. Her fore and main topsails are lowered and furled. While her lateen sail is, also, furled. A large outcrop of rock is dramatically positioned, on the left of the painting, with trees growing from the top which bend to the off-shore wind. In the foreground, an open-jawed sea creature breaks the surface of the water. However in this scene, unlike frequent treatments of the subject, the ships are not in specific danger. Even the sea creature, raising its head out of the vast waves, does not pose any real threat to the sailors. Rather than being employed to give the painting an allegorical meaning, the rocks and the sea creature allude to a general iconography of ‘seascape’ and simply render the composition more interesting.

Verbeeck would have been aware of the work of contemporary artists such as Hendrick Vroom and Jan Porcellis. At this time, both Vroom and Porcellis, moved away from the colourful, documentary style of the Flemish tradition to a more tonal and atmospheric rendering of the natural setting. The subdued palette of Verbeeck’s painting seems to reflect this interest. Originally the panel may have been one of a pair of complementary subjects. Often this was the case in Dutch marine painting, particularly in small formats (BHC0733 and BHC0732). Intended as a cabinet picture, it would have either hung in a collector’s closet (BHC0810) or been part of the decoration of a cabinet itself. These precious pieces of case furniture, used for the storage and display of small valuable objects, were popular in Northern Europe throughout the seventeenth century. They tended to be elaborately decorated with small painted panels.

Cornelisz Verbeeck was born in Haarlem in about 1590. He appears to have been a violent character continuously caught up in fights and stabbings which have left us with considerable legal records. In 1610 he became a member of the Guild of St Luke in Haarlem. The painter signed his work either ‘CVB’ or ‘CVB H’. Only a small number of his paintings are known today. However it is evident that he specialized in beach scenes, ships on rough seas and historic maritime events. It is, most likely, that he died in Haarlem after 1637. The painting is signed 'CVB' .