Signed and indistinctly dated 169(?), this rare pen, ink and wash en grisaille work on canvas by Willem van de Velde the Elder (Leiden 1611 – Greenwich 1693) shows An English two-decker lying-to at sea in a moderate breeze, with boats pulling towards her.

Van de Velde the Elder pioneered the technique known as 'penschilderij' – pen painting – combining pen and ink drawing with wash on a prepared canvas or panel ground, working in a restrained grisaille palette to achieve extraordinary precision in the rigging and structure of ships. This technique, distinct from the fuller oil paintings for which his son (Willem van de Velde the Younger) is better known, represents some of the elder van de Velde's most technically demanding and sought-after work.

The painting is published in M.S. Robinson's definitive two-volume catalogue raisonné, The Paintings of the Willem van de Veldes (National Maritime Museum, 1990), no. 796, and carries a documented provenance to a 1921 Frankfurt auction.

Collectors of Dutch Golden Age marine art, penschilderij technique specifically, and National Maritime Museum-catalogued works will find this a scholarly important and technically rare example.