Keywords: Bonaventura Peeters, the Elder - Dutch Ferry Boats in a Fresh Breeze.jpg Artwork Creator Bonaventura Peeters I This painting shows Dutch boats in a fresh breeze Boats traverse a busy waterway in order to reach the land which is visible on the far right of the composition Two boats are laden with passengers and are ferrying people to and from the town in the distance The largest vessel in the centre left of the painting is a kaag Kaags were light cargo craft used for transporting people and provisions The Dutch double-prince flag of the Amsterdam Admiralty is prominently positioned within the painting flying from the mast of this ferry boat This contributes to the ˜recognizably Dutch ™ character of the scene The vessel sails away from the viewer and holds people sitting around its sides Its passengers face one another and are presumably engaged in social interaction The only exception is the figure of the man in the hat who stares outwards seemingly engaging with the self-aware gaze of the viewer Another man is attending to the rigging On the right the smaller ferry boat is visibly crammed with passengers too Most of whom are economically articulated using tiny daubs of paint This craft is of a flatter construction and sits lower in the water The passengers are seated in the bow and a crew member is busy at the stern Sails of other craft are visible in the distance On the far left a merchant ship is at anchor Two-thirds of the painting is occupied with the sky A storm cloud sits over the centre of the scene However here as in his roughly contemporary work ˜Seascape with Sailors Sheltering from a Rainstorm s 1640 oil oak panel cm 33 38 2 6 Institution National Maritime Museum London object history credit line accession number BHC0760 http //www nmm ac uk/collections/explore/object cfm ID BHC0760 National Maritime Museum Greenwich London Palmer Collection PD-old-100 Paintings by Bonaventura Peeters I in the National Maritime Museum London 1640s paintings in the United Kingdom 17th-century sailing ships in paintings Sailing ships of the Netherlands 17th-century oil on panel paintings in the United Kingdom Admiralty of Amsterdam |