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Several boats and ships are cruising on a violently moving sea. The front wave track carrying a fully manned rowing boat is designed in dark grey in the manner of a repoussoir. In the right-hand middle ground, a 'smalschip' is sailing to the right, on which two sailors are securing the foresail and flag, while a third is operating the rudder. More ships poulate the sea in the background, while in the distance on the left, diagonal, slightly streaky sections suggest the descent of rain showers. There, against a lighter area of sky, the silhouette of a church with a blunt tower stands out. The location is not specified. But the presence of three-masters near the coast points to the Zuiderzee, which was surrounded by land except for the entrance to the open North Sea, but could be navigated by three-masters.
Since the painting appeared on the art market in 2009, it has been attributed to both Simon de Vlieger (1600/01-1653) and a successor of Pieter Mulier I (c. 1600-1659/61). In a detailed analysis, however, Dr Gerlinde de Beer has now been able to identify the present seascape as an autograph work by the marine painter Jeronimus van Diest II, who worked in The Hague and London.
The painting is particularly comparable to two monogrammed works by van Diest: "Herring Catchers under Escort of Warships" in the Inder Rieden Collection (cf. G. de Beer, et al: The Golden Age of Dutch Marine Painting, The Inder Rieden Collection, Leiden 2019, vol. II, cat. No. 43) and "Marine Landscape with Fishermen in the Foreground" (Koller, Zurich, 1 April 2011, lot 3027). Paintings like these include small details that recur in works by Jeronimus van Diest, such as circular cloud formations caused by a central clearing of the sky, as well as unexpected small, coloured values in the sailors' clothing or draped cloths, here the playful, decorative element of the flag wrapped around the flagpole. The fully occupied rowing boat with ten occupants in the front left, one of whom is standing and holding a boat hook, is also found again and again, for example in the above-mentioned "Marine Landscape" or a similar boat with six occupants in Jeronimus van Diest's 1667 major work, which shows the seized English admiral's ship 'Prince Charles' (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.no. SK-A-1389), (cf. certificate Dr. Gerlinde de Beer).