An Italian Seaport

An Italian SeaportThis theatrical, bustling seaport is effectively a 'capriccio' a scene invented by the artist by juxtaposing selected elements in order to obtain heightened stylistic effects and atmospheres.

The only distinct angel (held steady by an awesome wing-span) is painted as a simple triangular shape made up of vertical streaks

usually credited with being the first English animal painter

1573-1623)

with the town of Tivoli above

but his bride may tentatively be identified by her coat-of-arms as either Joan or Anne Cromwell

Keeper of Pictures to George III

There are related drawings at Windsor and in the Galleria dell'Accademia

fell so completely in love with her that in 1625 he married her

but the attribution to Hobbema was rejected by Richter in 1880 in favour of Dubois

and the painterly rendering of the hands in particular is close to the Spanish master

He and Claude developed along similar lines

the doge left the Molo and put out into the Adriatic to perform the ceremony of the symbolic Wedding of Venice to the Sea by casting a gold ring into the water