Cornelis De Wael

(Anversa, 1592 - Roma, 1667)

Painting to be included in the corpus of "maniera grande" works by the painter Cornelis de Wael.

We can define this landscape as a vedutism that can be compared to several other works of the same genre: View of a Port with Galley and Dutch Sailing Ships, on auction at Pandolfini-Florence on 14-11-2017; Scene de derbarquement sur un rivale Mediterranean - Acturial - Paris- 12-2-2025.

Although we do not find the author's signature, if we observe the character portrayed half-length on the wall under the tower we could suppose that the author wanted to make a cameo of himself, due to the absolute resemblance of the character to the image in the painting by Anton Van Dyck, which portrays Lucas and Cornelis. It seems that the painter is observing from above, in order to construct with his brush, a theatrical scene whose scenographic structure makes it real and naturalistic.

The painter, from above, is capturing a minute and lively episode, captured and photographed in the port environment, with a swarming vivacity of moving figures.

capturing the essence of port life. The figures are depicted with great variety and movement, contributing to the liveliness of the composition.

It conveys and constructs a narrative of a realistic environment, of a spatial and free breath, whose chromatic nature is made more delicate by a lively luminism: the sky, although with dark and threatening clouds, is touched by a pink that makes the light clear and bright.

The distant misty sea air expands to the horizon in atmospheric realism.

The work shows the unmistakable points of our production, starting from the compositional scheme which is always similar in seaports: promontories and quay in the proscenium, in the sky always puffy and moving clouds and on the quay various characters including some orientals with Turkish headdresses painted with a chromatic dotting of the clothes with touches of red, blue, white and yellow.

The inclusion of classical elements such as the two towers with fortified walls, a distant castle in the background and the monument of Neptune on the quay, are often specific characterizations in all his paintings.

Due to the numerous commissions, his workshop was organised like a real business, staffed by numerous collaborators.

In fact, the very precise and punctual manner of painting the boats suggests the intervention of Andreas van Ertvelt.

The painting is a fine example of the great technical skill of the Flemish painter Cornelis De Wael, a forerunner of the view painters of the following century.

ASOR Studio