Cornelis de Wael Antwerp 1592 - 1667 Rome

Tutored by his father Jean-Baptiste, the Antwerp-born painter Cornelis de Wael matured in Italy where he worked in Rome, Genoa and Liguria. He painted mainly battle scenes and also marines, such as the present one.

Typical for the work of De Wael is the foreshortening of the ships coming out of the water, such as the ship being entered in the present painting. This naval battle scene can be compared with a similar one in a private collection (see G. Sestieri, I Pittori di Battaglie. Maestri italiani e stranieri del XVII e XVIII secolo, Rome 1999, reproduced p. 629, fig. 4). De Wael's paintings are quite often mistaken for those by Johannes Lingelbach (1622-1674), which are indeed in some parts very similar, see for example the Battle scene at Sea by Lingelbach, which was sold New York, Sotheby's, 21 May 1998, lot 38.

We are grateful to Marijke C. de Kinkelder for endorsing the attribution to De Wael on the basis of photographs.