Verovering van de Zilvervloot in de Baai van Matanzas door admiraal Piet Heyn, 1628 1628

Claes Jansz. Visscher's engraving depicts the Dutch capture of the Spanish Silver Fleet in 1628. Here, ships become symbols, laden not just with cargo, but with the weight of ambition, power, and conflict between empires. Consider the ship. From ancient Egyptian barques carrying souls to the afterlife, to Viking longboats crossing stormy seas, the ship is a vessel of passage, carrying hopes, fears, and the projection of human will across the unknown. In Visscher's rendering, the armada is reminiscent of a gathering storm. Just like the Roman war galleys or the Spanish Armada, each ship’s sail becomes a wing of the angel of victory or defeat. These ships, frozen in time, evoke an intense psychological drama, a collective memory of naval power, and the human drama of dominance. They remind us that symbols are never static; they evolve, carrying echoes of the past into the present.