The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. have announced their acquisition of A Fleet at Sea by Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom (1566-1640). The work was gifted by Albert Beveridge and his late wife, Madzy. It has been suggested that the prominent ship might be a depiction of the Roode Leeuw (Red Lion), a vessel which made various voyages to South America and the Caribbean after its launching from its home port of Rotterdam in 1597.
Sotheby’s London sold this remarkably similar painting by Vroom in 2009, possibly depicting the ship Den Briel, which realised £49,250.
