'were drawn with a knowledge which extended to every
rope.' He has been an exceedingly popular painter both with the Dutch
and the English. Of upwards of three hundred pictures left by him many
are in Holland and still more in England, where in his lifetime he was
largely employed by the English nobility and gentry. William Van de
Velde has a great picture in the Amsterdam Museum, where the English
flag-ship, the _Princess Royal_, is represented as striking her colours
to the Dutch fleet in 1666. In the companion picture, also by Van de
Velde, 'Four English men-of-war brought in as prizes,' the painter
introduces himself in the small boat from which he witnessed the fight.
William Van de Velde's triumphs in calm seas are seen especially in his
pictures at the Hague and in Munich. Some of Van de Velde's best works
are in the National Gallery.

Backhuysen born in 1631, died at Amsterdam in 1708, was another
admirable marine painter. He did not study painting till he had followed
a trade up to the age of eighteen years; he then gave himself with
ardour to art, making many studies of skies, coasts, and vessels. He was
inferior to William Van de Velde in his colouring, which was heavy, with
a cold effect. But he had in full a Dutch painter's truthfulness, while
his 'stormy waves and rent clouds' are given with poetic feeling. He was
an industrious and successful man, painting nearly two hundred pictures,
and receiving many commissions from the King of Prussia, Grand Duke of
Tuscany, etc. One of his finest works, 'A View of the River from the
Landing-place called the Mosselsteiger,' is in Amsterdam Museum. In the
Louvre is 'A view of the Mouth of the Texel, with ten Men-of-war Sailing
before a Fresh Wind.' 'Dutch Shipping' is in the National Gallery.

Van de Capella is another capital marine painter, though little is known
of him. He was a native of Amsterdam about 1653. His favourite subject
is a quiet sea in sunny weather. His work bears some resemblance to that
of Cuyp. His best pictures are in England. 'A Calm at Low Water' is in
the National Gallery.

Melchior de Hondecoeter, born in 1636, died in 1695, chose the feathered
tribe for his subjects. He has been called 'the Raphael of bird
painters.' He painted especially poultry, peacocks, turkeys, and
pigeons, which he usually represented alive, and treated with great
truthfulness and picturesque feeling. Among his best pictures are 'The
Floating Feather,' a feather give