WIERINGEN, Cornelis Claesz van

Wieringen was probably the pupil of Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom (the founder of European marine painting); he ranks as his best and closest follower. Wieringen’s multicoloured paintings are more ornamental, his waves and whitecaps more schematic than Vroom’s, and his skies (apart from those in his graphics) are little more than decorative backdrops.

The Capture of Damiate was commissioned by Haarlem’s St Hadrian Civic Guard, and it was originally mounted as an overmantel in the company’s headquarters (a few years afterwards officers of the company commissioned Frans Hals to paint their group portrait). The painting represent a pseudo-historical event. According to tradition late twelfth-century crusaders en route to the Holy Land tried to capture Damiate, a port city at the mouth of the Nile which had its harbour protected by a heavy chain stretched across it from two moles. The chain was cut, according to the legend, when a ship from Haarlem ingeniously fitted with a specially designed saw-toothed prow and keel sailed across it. After this feat and a fierce battle the port fell to the crusaders.

The tale exemplified the audacity and courage of early Haarlemmers, and by association, redounded to the glory of citizens of the city. By the sixteenth century the fable had acquired a mythic dimension for Haarlem’s patriots. The appetite for it was satisfied by later printmakers and painters. Vroom and other artists also made drawings to stain glass windows of the subject, and Wieringen designed a huge tapestry depicting the legendary event for Haarlem’s Town Hall which is still mounted there. It is one of the largest tapestries ever woven in the 17th century (240 x 1075 cm, Haarlem, Rathaus, Vroedschapskamer).

The present work depicts a coastal landscape with a warship at anchor. Its main mast flies the Dutch lion, and it’s front mast the striped flag of the Dutch Republic. Characteristic in this work is the sophisticated use of light achieved by partially concealing the sun behind clouds, leading to a glittering contrast of light and shadow in the overcast sky.

Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen was a maritime painter in early 17th century Haarlem, which Laurens J. Bol refers to as the “cradle of Dutch maritime painting”. A captain’s son, Wieringen at first also went to sea before becoming an artist. He concentrated on painted and drawn maritime scenes and went on to become the most accomplished marine painter of his time. He received numerous commissions from public institutions in Haarlem and Amsterdam, including the monumental painting “The Battle of Gibraltar”, of the legendary “Taking of Damiette” (Haarlem, Frans-Hals-Museum), the composition of which was used in one of the largest tapestries ever woven in the 17th century (240 x 1075 cm, Haarlem, Rathaus, Vroedschapskamer).

The naval battle of Gibraltar took place on 25 April 1607, during the Eighty Years’ War, when a Dutch fleet surprised and engaged a Spanish fleet anchored at the Bay of Gibraltar. During the four hours’ of action, most of the Spanish ships were destroyed.

The painting is on loan from the Het Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam.

The painting depicts the explosion of the Spanish admiral ship during the naval battle at Gibraltar, April 25, 1607, when the Spanish warship is rammed by a Dutch ship. People are hurled into the air by the explosion. In the foreground, sailors try to rescue themselves in sloops, others swim in the water.

It was probably painted as a test piece for the great Battle of Gibraltar, commissioned by the Amsterdam Admiralty in 1621.