Dutch artist Jan van Goyen painted The Mouth of the River in 1655, towards the end of his life. Monumental Cumulonimbus storm clouds take up three quarters of the composition, dwarfing the boats beneath. They are producing some heavy, driving rain at the far horizon, shown as dark veils that all but obscure the land beyond. The energetic brushstrokes and thin oils show van Goyen painted quickly. This may have been for purely pragmatic reasons. The free art market in seventeenth-century Netherlands forced artists to work fast and be productive. The result of hasty execution by the hand of a master like van Goyen is a sea and sky brimming with energy.