A Levantine Harbour
by MINDERHOUT, Hendrik van, Oil on canvas, 163 x 243
Hendrik van Minderhout painted a number of large exotic harbour scenes such as this which follow in the tradition of Jan Baptist Weenix and Johannes Lingelbach. He favoured compositions built around a central quay lavishly staffed, with Dutch vessels in the open water to the left and Roman ruins or a steep hill to the right to create a high repoussoir and offset his scenes against a richly coloured early evening sky.
The present painting shows a Levantine harbour with a galley and a man-of-war coming in to anchor, together with many figures on shore.