A proud shipbuilder

Although Edam’s importance as a port declined in the seventeenth century, it remained a major player in the shipbuilding industry throughout that century. The painting depicts every ship that Jacob Mathijsz Oosterlingh, born and bred in Edam, built. In addition to several large spiegelschips in the left background, our attention is drawn to the ships in the right background and foreground. These are flutes that, with their large holds, numbered among the Republic’s most important vessels. Flutes sailed mainly to Russia and Scandinavia and were used to transport grain and timber.