794 - Maffei, naval battle with 17th c. ships of the line and burning ship, large-format seascape

Maffei, naval battle with 17th c. ships of the line and burning ship, large-format seascape Oil/canvas, signed lower left “Maffei”, depiction of a naval battle with several large 17th c. ships of the line under full sail, left of centre a burning ship with blazing flames, clouds of smoke and sails billowing in the wind, red and white flags at the sterns of the ships, heavy sea, condition commensurate with age, heavy craquelure, paint loss, image 60x120 cm (HxW) The naval battle as a pictorial subject goes back to Dutch marine painting of the 17th c., whose founder is considered to be Hendrick Cornelisz. Vroom; Willem van de Velde the Elder and the Younger were later summoned to England as court marine painters. Depending on their ambition, naval battle paintings counted as event or history painting and could show the ship allegorically as a symbol of the state. After the Napoleonic Wars almost every European coastal country had its own marine painters; the term Marinemalerei only became established in German in the late 19th c. The large-format seascape with ships of the line in battle stands in this tradition of decorative marine painting.