4243 - Rescue of the Shipwrecked

Rescue of the Shipwrecked A striking coastal scene set against a backdrop of a dramatically churning sea, in front of a palace with classical columned architecture, showing rescuers saving the shipwrecked from a sailing ship that has run aground on the cliffs, under an ominous, storm-clouded sky; this melodramatic motif enjoyed great popularity in the past and was rendered by various artists, sometimes with slight modifications. For instance, a version dated 1771 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna was painted by Philipp Jakob de Loutherbourg (1740 Strasbourg - 1812 Chiswick near London); another version, held at the National Museum in Warsaw, was created in 1840 by Franz Xaver Lampi (1782 Klagenfurt - 1852 Warsaw), in addition, there are copies with the image reversed and those with the image in the correct orientation, a copy with a thin glaze, oil on canvas, first half of the 19th century, unsigned, relined, with conservation issues, in a gilded stucco frame, inner dimensions approx. 70.5 x 101.5 cm.