The Return to Amsterdam of the Second Expedition to the East Indies, Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom, 1599
oil on canvas, h 102.3cm × w 218.4cm Catalogue entry
Under the command of Jacob Cornelisz van Neck, eight Dutch ships set sail to the Indonesian Archipelago in 1598. The first four returned from Bantam (Java) a year later, on 19 July 1599. The other ships had sailed on to the Moluccas (Maluku Islands). They too returned, laden with nutmeg, mace and cloves.