. English: An English Ship in Action with Barbary Vessels An English ship, on the left, battles with a ‘Barbary’ ship and two galleys. Smoke fills the sky and the gunfire, which reflects in the sea, illuminates the sails of the ships and their flags. In the left foreground is the forepart of the Barbary ship which is much damaged and listing to port. She appears to be on fire amidships. There is a boat on her port bow which is picking up survivors. Beyond her are the masts of another ship which is blowing up. On the right is a galley sinking and, beyond her, another galley viewed from the sta
. English: An English Ship in Action with Barbary Vessels An English ship, on the left, battles with a ‘Barbary’ ship and two galleys. Smoke fills the sky and the gunfire, which reflects in the sea, illuminates the sails of the ships and their flags. In the left foreground is the forepart of the Barbary ship which is much damaged and listing to port. She appears to be on fire amidships. There is a boat on her port bow which is picking up survivors. Beyond her are the masts of another ship which is blowing up. On the right is a galley sinking and, beyond her, another galley viewed from the starboard quarter. The masts and sails of three other galleys appear above the smoke. In the centre background, above the smoke, is a Barbary ship with a flag at the main. She has listed to starboard. On the left a large English two-decker, viewed from the port quarter, is heavily engaged with Barbary ships to port and starboard. The two-decker flies a Union flag at the mizzen and a red pendant at the main which may be a signal for help. The Barbary corsairs operated from the main coastal cities of northern Africa. Naval expeditions against these centres were carried out by various European nations from the seventeenth century. This is one of van de Velde’s most dramatic battle scenes and is painted in an unusually flamboyant manner. It echoes earlier paintings by Dutch artists such as 'Spanish Men-of-War Engaging Barbary Corsairs' (BHC0799) by Cornelis Hendricksz Vroom which shows combat against vessels of the corsair states of northern Africa. This painting is believed to depict an action which took place after the burning of the ships in Tripoli on the night of 14/15 January 1676 and before Sir John Narborough's departure for Malta in early February. Therefore this painting could have been commissioned by Narborough and he may have supplied van de Velde with the details for the scene. However while many of van de Velde’s paintings depict clearly identifiable events, suc
Size: 3000px × 1666px
Photo credit: © The Picture Art Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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