This painting was listed in the Museum catalogues as an anonymous work from the Dutch school until 1920, although from 1885 onwards it was noted that Bredius ascribes it to Aert Anthonisz. van Antum (ca. 1579/80-1620). The attribution was adopted from the 1936 catalogue onwards. However, Vroom`s signature is perceptible beneath the repainted flag bearing the Burgundy cross which covers the original Dutch flag. Since the picture featured in the inventory of the possessions of Queen Isabella Farnese (1746) as the work of an unknown artist, it is reasonable to think that the repainting to conceal the original flag dates from before it entered her collection. It is quite possible that the repainting was done to pass the scene off as a battle between the Spanish armada and the Turkish fleet. In the royal inventories and Museum catalogues, Naval Battle off a Rocky Coast is listed as the companion piece to Ships in a Storm, attributed here to Claes Claesz. Wou.

This panel features all the stylistic devices designed by Vroom to depict ships in the harbour or at sea and later adopted by his followers. As is typically found in the painter`s works, the colour is arranged into two strips: a dark foreground occupied by the sea, and a luminous, atmospheric plane in which water, sky and the small fragment of coastline blend. The precise, painstaking draughtsmanship with which the ships, the rigging and the flags are rendered contrasts with the more painterly execution of the water and the atmospheric effects. The paint is applied sparingly in gentle brushstrokes except in the metal ball and half moon that crown the masts flying the flags, which are executed with a small touch of yellow impasto and appear to be in relief.

Vroom painted his first naval battles in 1590. However, his works are mostly undated. This, coupled with his scant stylistic evolution, which is limited to the progressive lowering of the horizon line, makes it difficult to establish a timeline for his output. In this case the horizon line is very low, a practice which became widespread in Dutch painting in the 1620s. Moreover, the ship on the right and the fortification on the rocky outcrop that can be made out in the background feature in another of Vroom`s seascapes, Castle with a Ship sailing Nearby, dated 1626 (Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado. 2009, p. 317).