Andries van Eertvelt

Private collection, Spain;

Whence acquired by a private collector, Spain;

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 7 July 2011, lot 176, for £79,250;

Where acquired by the present owner.

This impressive canvas likely depicts the Battle of Lepanto, which took place on 7 October 1571 in the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece. It was the first major Ottoman defeat by the Christian powers and heralded the end of Turkish supremacy in the Mediterranean. The five-hour battle was fought fiercely between the Holy League (comprised of Venice, the Papacy, Spain, the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Savoy, and the Knights of Malta, among others) under John of Austria (1547–1578), and the Ottomans, who were led by Uluç Ali, then Pasha of Algiers (1519–1587). The Holy League's naval fleet consisted of 206 galleys and six galleasses, which together carried around 30,000 men. The Ottoman fleet was similar in size, but nonetheless suffered a humiliating defeat. Another treatment of this subject by Eertvelt, of much smaller dimensions and painted on copper, sold at Christie's London in 2007, for £45,600.¹

When this painting sold in these rooms in 2011, Dr Gerlinde de Beer endorsed the attribution to Andries van Eertvelt on the basis of digital images. The present work's previous location in Spain is not unusual since, as de Beer pointed out, many of Eertvelt's works were exported as far as Seville and Lisbon by dealers both during his lifetime and shortly afterwards.

¹ Oil on copper, 41 x 56.5 cm.; https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4943133.