The painting ‘Ships on a rocky coast’ is a fine example one of an early work of Ludolf Backhuysen and can be dated around 1660. In composition, it is one of Backhuysen most successful. It depicts a tempest I which a tree-master,  is finding passage heading port through the rocks. The main theme is a depiction of the elements, the waters and the looming sky above, in which the ships are the characters which are in the play to survive an uncertain future and hope to get ashore before they might be wrecked by  impending doom. Yet, there is a fortress along the coast, so there is hope, as is seen at the tow-boat which is rowing to the shore amidst the rocks.