Artwork
De verovering van de Royal Prince
De verovering van de Royal Prince is an unspecified painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Willem van de Velde the Younger. It dates from 1670 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
The artist painted the smoke and waves to make the scene feel urgent, even though it’s small and detailed.
You see a ship on fire in rough water, with smaller boats crowded around it. The biggest ship, the *Royal Prince*, is tilting sideways as flames climb its masts. Dutch sailors in rowboats watch or try to help.
This painting shows a real moment from a 1666 sea battle. The Dutch captured the English flagship but had to burn it—they couldn’t tow it home. The artist painted the smoke and waves to make the scene feel urgent, even though it’s small and detailed.
To see more battle scenes like this, visit the Rijksmuseum.
Overview
De verovering van de Royal Prince is a painting depicting a pivotal moment in the Four Days' Battle of 1666, when the Dutch Navy captured the English flagship Royal Prince.
Subject & Meaning
The scene shows the Royal Prince, aground and ablaze, surrounded by Dutch sailors in smaller boats. The capture of the English vessel by Cornelis Tromp's forces is the central event, with the subsequent decision to burn the ship rather than attempt to tow it to the Netherlands.
Technique & Style
The artist conveys a sense of urgency and turmoil through the depiction of smoke, flames, and rough waters, achieved within a detailed and relatively small composition.
History & Provenance
The painting represents a real event from the Four Days' Battle, which took place in June 1666. The Royal Prince ran aground on a sandbank off the English coast on June 13, and was subsequently captured and burned by Dutch forces under the command of Michiel de Ruyter and Cornelis Tromp.
Artist & collection
Artist
Willem van de Velde the Younger
Willem van de Velde the Younger (18 December 1633 (baptised) – 6 April 1707) was a Dutch painter who specialised in marine art.
English Warship Firing a Salute
Entrance to a Dutch Port
Ships in a calm
A Ship on the High Seas Caught by a Squall, Known as ‘The Gust’
Encounter during the Battle of Kijkduin
The skirmish of Michiel Adriaensz de Ruyter against the duke of York, commanding the 'Royal Prince'during the Battle of Solebay, 7 June 1672: episode from the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-74)
Captured English Ships after the Four Days’ Battle
Ships off the coast
The Capture of the Royal Prince
Slag bij Terheide
The Four Day's Battle, 11-14 June 1666
Episode from the Four Days Battle at Sea, 11-14 June 1666, in the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-67)
Engagement between British and Dutch Ships, after 1673
Shipping and boats: George IV passing Great Ormesby, Yarmouth, on his return from Edinburgh 1822
The Encounter of the Dutch and the English Fleet during the Voyage of the Dutch Flotilla to Boulogne, 1805
English Warship Firing a Salute
The seizure of the English flagship 'Royal Charles,' captured during the raid on Chatham, June 1667
The Four Day's Battle, 11-14 June 1666