This painting is one of a series of six near-identical state portraits produced by Ferdinand Bol which were commissioned by the governors of regional Admiralties to celebrate the Dutch victory at the Four Days Battle under de Ruyter's command.

In the lower left of the painting a large Blaeu celestial globe with a navigational chart and two pairs of dividers sit on the red-draped table. One of the dividers points to the chart which shows a faint illustration of Walcheren, an island at the mouth of the Schelde estuary, where de Ruyter was born in the town of Vlissingen (Flushing). The explicit emblematic presence of the town serves to immortalize de Ruyter as a local and national hero.

Technical examination has revealed that the ships in the background were painted on a separate canvas which was subsequently inserted into the main portrait. This seascape was painted by Willem van de Velde the Younger. It depicts the Dutch fleet accompanied by de Ruyter’s flagship, the 'Zeven Provincien'. Collaboration between portraitist and marine painter, such as this one, is unusual but is not an isolated case. Bol’s image of de Ruyter effectively unites a portrait with a history painting, forming an iconic, indivisible whole.