Lot 437: JACOB KNYFF (1638-1681)

DUTCH SHIPPING, INCLUDING AN AMSTERDAM GALLEON, LYING IN THE HARBOUR AT GENOA AT SUNSET SIGNED WITH INITIALS 'JWK' (BOW OF LOADING BOAT) OIL ON PANEL 26 X 43IN. (66 X 109.3CM.) NOTES THE ANCIENT ITALIAN PORT OF GENOA, LOCATED WITHIN THE PROVINCE OF THE SAME NAME, EXERTED A POWERFUL INFLUENCE OVER MEDITERRANEAN AFFAIRS THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE AGES AND BEYOND. THE LONG STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE GENOESE AND THE VENETIANS DURING THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY WAS ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE IN THE MEDIEVAL HISTORY OF ITALY AND EVEN AFTER THE GENOESE LOST SOME OF THEIR APPETITE FOR WAR, THE CITY OF GENOA'S STATURE AS A MAJOR TRADING PORT CONTINUED TO FLOURISH UNTIL THE END OF THE AGE OF SAIL. IN THIS WORK, TYPICAL OF JACOB KNYFF'S 'EARLIER' MEDITERRANEAN SCENES PAINTED BEFORE HE CAME TO ENGLAND IN 1672/73, THE PINK CLOUDS OF THE EVENING SKY ARE PARTICULARLY CHARACTERISTIC OF HIS STYLE AT THIS STAGE OF HIS CAREER. MOREOVER, HE IS AT PAINS TO STRESS THE COSMOPOLITAN IMPORTANCE OF GENOA AS A COMMERCIAL CROSSROADS, WITH THE ENGLISH MAN-O'WAR IN THE CENTRE PERHAPS DEPARTING AFTER A GOODWILL VISIT TO ENSURE HARMONIOUS RELATIONS, AND THE DUTCH GALLEON IN THE LEFT FOREGROUND CARRYING THE ARMS OF THE CITY OF AMSTERDAM ON HER STERN, BOTH VESSELS BEARING WITNESS TO GENOA AS A SIGNIFICANT DESTINATION FOR THE SHIPS OF EUROPE'S TWO GREATEST TRADING POWERS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. THE AMSTERDAM GALLEON AND HER ATTENDANT LIGHTERS FORM, IN FACT, AN INSTRUCTIVE VIGNETTE ON HARBOUR PRACTICE AT THIS DATE SHOWING, AS IT DOES, THE MANNER IN WHICH A SHIP WAS LOADED OR UNLOADED WHEN SHE WAS LYING IN THE ROADSTEAD RATHER THAN AT THE QUAYSIDE. THIS COMMONPLACE THOUGH REVEALING LITTLE SCENE SERVES TO ENHANCE FURTHER AN ALREADY CHARMING VIEW, NOTABLE FOR ITS TOPOGRAPHICAL APPEAL AS MUCH AS FOR ITS DEPICTION OF THE SEA AND THE SHIPS WHICH SAIL UPON IT. THIS WORK HAS BEEN ILLUSTRATED AND DISCUSSED IN FRANK COCKETT'S EARLY SEA PAINTERS, 1660-1730, PUBLISHED 1995, CH. 2, P.40-41.