An English Frigate, a royal Feluca flying the Flag of the Kingdom of Naples and other Vessels in the Bay of Naples - Rafael Valls

1824

Medium

Oil on Canvas

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-150441

Painted in the penultimate year of Serres’s long life the present picture represents a scene in Naples’ grand harbour crowded with ships. Alan Russett writes: “In the last years of his life Serres produced many important paintings of earlier subjects, among them a majestic view on a wide panoramic scale of the Bay of Naples, dated 1823”. This was: English frigate amongst much activity in the Bay of Naples with Vesuvius erupting beyond, sold by Christie’s in 2006 for £62,400. The two works are closely related and, as Russett suggests, they likely derive from sketches Serres completed in his travels some 23 years earlier. To the left of the frigate is Castel dell’Ovo on its promontory, and further to the left Castel Nuovo, a thirteenth century stronghold rebuilt by the Aragonese conquerors of Naples in the mid-fifteenth century. The buildings of the Old City march up towards the star-shaped Castel Sant’Elmo. The ships to the left of the composition fly the white and red flag of Malta. A view of Naples with a British war ship would instantly have conjured images in the mind of a patriotic British viewer of the great naval hero Horatio Nelson whose association with the city was well known. Until our painting appeared on the market, only two Serres works were known that are dated 1824. One is a view of the Thames at Chelsea and the other, The Battle of Trafalgar, was exhibited in the British Institution that same year.