A coastal landscape with shipping and fishermen selling their catch, a fortified settlement on the cliffs beyond

Abraham Willaerts, along with his brother Isaac, studied marine painting under their father, Adam Willaerts (1577-1664). Unlike his brother, who lived all his life in Utrecht, Abraham travelled extensively around the world. Early in his career he went to Paris, where he studied portraiture under Simon Vouet, subsequently travelling to Africa as well as accompanying Johan Maurits van Nassau to Brazil, before returning to Europe. Despite these travels and the various influences that he must have encountered, Abraham's maritime pictures are remarkably true to his father's vision. The Willaerts tended to employ a livelier palette than other Dutch marine painters of the same period, and their ships are rendered in the Flemish mannerist style. Their seascapes are frequently peopled with numerous figures on the shore, as here, where the fisherman are selling their morning's catch on the beach.