Beached Whale near Beverwijk Witnessed by Prince Ernest of Nassau

Beached whales were the object of much fascination in the Netherlands during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Such strandings were, after all, the only occasions when most people who were not involved in the whaling industry could see the giant mammals in the flesh. But strandings carried greater interest and darker meanings than mere curiosity about the hidden creatures of the ocean. Strandings were often seen as portents, and this famous whale, which beached near Beverwijk in January 1601, quickly became tied in popular imagination to calamities that ensued, including earthquakes and an outbreak of plague in Amsterdam.

The image, based on a drawing that Saenredam made on site, records the scene before the ominous associations had fully settled around the event. The artist shows a vast array of onlookers --- including himself, drawing the whale --- around and approaching the creature. Some have been attracted by the great mammal itself, but just as many have probably come to be near Count Ernst of Nassau, who has traveled to inspect the beast. The Count is by the side of the whale, holding a handkerchief to his nose, perhaps indicating that the whale has started to decompose.