166 - PAINTING BY MATTHIEU VAN PLATTENBERG, KNOWN AS MONSU’ MONTAGNA

PAINTING BY MATTHIEU VAN PLATTENBERG, KNOWN AS MONSU’ MONTAGNA (Antwerp, 1608 – Paris, 1660) STORMY SEASCAPE WITH A SHIPWRECK SCENE NEAR A FORTIFIED COAST Oil on canvas, 165 x 236 cm Gilded wooden frame. PROVENANCE Noble family from the Marche region This imposing composition depicts a dramatic stormy seascape, featuring a large vessel swept away by the waves, shipwrecked boats, and figures struggling to save themselves. On the right, a monumental fortified tower dominates the rocky coastline, contrasting with the tumultuous movement of the waves and clouds. The work bears significant similarities to the style of Matthieu van Plattenberg, known as Monsù Montagna, particularly in its expansive scenic composition, the rendering of the coastal landscape, and the intense treatment of atmospheric effects. Of particular interest is the presence, amid the waves, of a fantastical sea monster with a serpentine body—an iconographic motif traceable to the tradition of early 17th-century Flemish marine painting, also documented in the works of Andries van Eertvelt. This element accentuates the dramatic and allegorical nature of the depiction, in which the storm becomes an expression of the dangers and unpredictability of the sea. The monumental scale of the format, the narrative richness, and the theatricality of the composition place the painting within the context of 17th-century Flemish figurative art, particularly within the tradition developed around Matthieu van Plattenberg. CONDITION REPORT 20th-century relining; areas of paint restoration along the perimeter edges of the canvas; a vertical line of restoration in the upper left corner above the vessel.