Henry Cornelius Vroom, the Dutchman, having painted a number of devout
subjects, started for Spain to sell them; but was cast away upon a small
island near the coast of Portugal. The painter and some of the crew were
relieved by monks, who lived among the rocks, and they conducted them to
Lisbon, where Vroom was engaged by a picture-dealer to paint the storm
he had just escaped. In this picture he succeeded so well, that the
Portuguese dealer continued to employ him. He improved so much in
sea-pieces that he saved money, returned home, and applied himself
exclusively to that class of painting. He then lived at Haerlem, where
he was employed to design the suite of tapestry representing the Defeat
of the Spanish Armada, which hung for many years upon the walls of the
House of Lords, at Westminster. It had been bespoken by Lord Howard of
Effingham, the Lord High Admiral of the English Fleet, which engaged the
Armada; it was sold by him to James the First. It consisted originally
of ten compartments, forming separate pictures, each of which was
surrounded by a wrought border, including the portraits of the officers
who held command in the English fleet. This tapestry was woven,
according to Sandrart, by Francis Spiering: it was destroyed in the fire
which consumed the two Houses of Parliament, in 1834. Fortunately,
engravings from these hangings were executed by Mr. John Pine, and
published in 1739, with illustrations from charters, medals, &c.