The Explosion of the Spanish Flagship during the Battle of Gibraltar, c.1621 (oil on canvas)

On 25 April 1607, during the Eighty Years' War, thirty Dutch ships took the Spanish fleet by surprise in the Bay of Gibraltar. The Spanish vessels, which posed a threat to Dutch trade, were destroyed. It was the first major Dutch victory at sea. The painter represented this victory in triumphant style, with the Spanish flagship exploding and dozens of crewmembers flying up into the air. Eighty Years' War was an armed revolt under the leadership of Protestant William of Orange when the Dutch struggled to gain independence from Spanish rule under the Catholic Philip II.