A large Dutch man-of-war is being engaged by several Spanish galleys just off a rocky coast. Bol probably took the subject from Hendrick and Cornelis Vroom, with one possible model being their Dutch Ships Ramming Spanish Galleys off the English Coast, 3 October 1602 of 1617 (SK-A-460). Both paintings show a naval battle close to steep cliffs topped by a castle or fort. Although there are considerable differences between the two compositions, the position of the central warship is almost identical. The event may well be the same one as that depicted in the painting by the Vrooms, namely the encounter between Vice-Admiral Johan Adriaensz Cant’s Halve Maan and a number of Spanish galleys near Dover on 3 October 1602.2 The fact that the town and castle are not very faithful depictions does not invalidate this identification, since topographical accuracy was not always a requirement in scenes of this kind. Bol’s style is a little reminiscent of Vroom’s and Aert Anthonisz’s, but the execution is considerably weaker.3 The palette is not particularly colourful, so it is very possible that the painting dates from the 1630s. Everhard Korthals Altes, 2007 See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 22.