Italianate Harbour View with a Fantasy Building and Man-of-War RMG BHC0929

Italianate Harbour View with a Fantasy Building and Man-of-War
This Italianate harbour view is one of the many Mediterranean depictions painted by Abraham Storck from 1665. The composition scheme used, here, is common in his oeuvre. In the foreground he has depicted a stone quay, with an antique obelisk and fountain, surrounded by colourful figures. The staffage around the obelisk and the fountain indicates trade activity in the harbour. A man leans looking into the fountain. Figures are sitting on bales with lettering visible on them. Clothed in black and carrying a sword in its sheath, a captain negotiates with merchantmen. They are wearing eastern dress which affirms the trade links with the Ottoman world that are implied elsewhere in this painting. Lying by the quayside a small boat, flying the Dutch flag, draped with carpets is partly obscured behind the obelisk. A man standing on board blows a trumpet, probably summoning people to embark, possibly to announce their imminent departure. A number of figures carry bundles. On the right, several men, standing on the steps leading down to the water, are talking to four men in a boat moored alongside. The emphasis of this painting is trade.
Behind the quay, on the left, is a prestigious ‘classicized’ building with a monumental staircase. The open staircase is crowned with a few classical sculptures: two statues of horses at the top of the steps and a pair of sphinxes positioned at the bottom. Carpets hang from the balcony above the portico. A number of trading craft, including some Mediterranean feluccas, are shown at the bottom of the steps with one flying the flag of Genoa. At the time the small feluccas were used to transport passengers between the various harbour towns in Italy and France. To the right is a warship which is equipped with numerous guns. These can be seen through the open ports. The ship, built in the Dutch style, carries the centuries-old Jerusalem cross with four small red crosses between the arms of a large red cross on a white field. A large red ensign flies on the stern, depicting a standing golden lion with right paw raised. An allusion is possibly made, here, to a ship with Venetian connections. Perhaps the warship and a galley, which heads seaward, are preparing to leave the harbour.
In the distance the entrance to the port is flanked by sturdy fortifications. The work exudes the atmosphere of a southern harbour on a sunny day. However, whilst Storck gives the impression of an everyday scene, the architectural context is not based on reality. At the end of the seventeenth-century, many Dutch artists turned away from the styles and subjects of their home country. Storck was one of several marine painters who produced views of Mediterranean ports which were probably fantastical since there is not evidence that he went there. Merchant shipping appears alongside architectural ruins and are depicted in the crystal-clear colours of Italian art of the period. Such scenes anticipated the popular eighteenth century Italian capriccio. The façade of the monumental building is reminiscent of a Venetian palazzo or a variation of a villa from the surroundings of Rome. Storck probably worked from prints of existing buildings but, here, diverged from them as he often did. The lantern on the roof, complete with weather vane, is derived from the Amsterdam town hall. Similar combinations of Mediterranean architecture and prominent Dutch buildings occur more frequently, particularly in the work of both Abraham and his brother Jacob, from around 1670. In the seventeenth century antique obelisks on a limestone base, accompanied by a basin, as depicted here, could be found in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome among other places. The most famous granite obelisks, which lacked hieroglyphs, are those found in the Piazza dell’Esquilino and the Piazza del Quirinale, Rome. Storck based the athletic figures with their horses, at the top of the staircase in this scene, on the Dioscuri, the horse-tamers Castor and Pollux, found in the Piazza del Quirinale, Rome. This square was known as the Piazza di Monte Cavallo in the seventeenth century.
The artist, Abraham Storck, trained and worked with his father and became a member of the Guild of St Luke in Amsterdam. His river and coastal scenes were influenced by Ludolf Backhuysen, Willem van de Velde the Younger and Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraten. He showed considerable accuracy in depicting the rigging and technical details of ships. Also he concentrated on representations of both spectators and passengers, showing great skill in the depiction of the human figure, through characterization and attention to costume and detail. Storck's most popular paintings are views of harbour cities and river scenes. Most of these topographical views are of Dutch subjects, often depicting recreational and ceremonial aspects of shipping, with an emphasis on colourful pleasure yachts occupied by passengers in festive dress. The painting is signed 'A Storck Fecit Ao 1697' on the base of the obelisk.

Italianate Harbour View with a Fantasy Building and Man-of-War