A single English ship on the left battles with a ‘Barbary’ ship, and two galleys on the right, the nearest of which is sinking. Smoke fills the sky and the gunfire is reflected in the sea, illuminating the sails of the ships and their flags. A highly aesthetic rendering of the popular and ‘exotic’ subject, it is likely to have been painted in the ground-floor parlour of this very building, where the van de Veldes had their studio from 1672/3.
