All works in Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum

anonymous

The Battle near Livorno (14 March 1653)

Northern Netherlands, Northern Netherlands, after 1653 - 1660

Object data

oil on canvas on panel

support: height 114 cm × width 216 cm
depth 8 cm

Inscriptions

  • inscription, lower left, on the monument: Bataglia secuita tra li vaseli olandesi e inglesi il di 14 Marzo 1653
  • inscription, bottom right, on a sheet of paper: A. Adm.l van galen schietende d’Engelse brander ind’ gront / B. Cap. corn. tromp die de samson abordeerde en door de Brander verbrant wiert / C. De Son en Julius cesar die de Luijpert Abordeerde veroverde / D. Cap van Sonne die tegens drie fregatten slaechs was en daer na de Levantse Coopman verovert / E. Susanna en d’Swarten Arent die ’t schip pelgrom abordeerd en veroverde / F. Cap Adriaen Roothaas / G. scheepen keerende na de Reede / H. d’ engs. Adm.l Bodelei met een Brander en seve scheepen comende van porte lognone / I. schip Bonaventura gespronge sijnde door den Admirael van galen en Cap Roothaes in de Brant geschoten / K. ’t schip Maria dat ’t ontseijlt is.

Conservation

  • W.A. Hopman, 1887: lijst bijgewerkt
  • W.A. Hopman, 1889: doek gespannen
  • H.H. Mertens, 1938: canvas relined
  • H.H. Mertens, 1966: restored

Provenance

…; Rijkswerf Rotterdam, 18321; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, as attributed to Johannes Lingelbach, to the museum, 18832.

Object number: SK-A-1391

Copyright: Public domain

Entry

Large canvas of a naval battle seen from the shore, where a coastal battery is depicted, and a large gathering of people is watching the battle unfolding in the distance. The names of the ships are listed on a trompe-l’œil sheet of paper in the lower right.

Previously attributed to the Dutch painter Johannes Lingelbach (1622-1674),3 the painting came from the Rotterdam Navy dockyard in 1832 to the Navy Model Room in The Hague.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 172; P.J.J. van Thiel et al., All the Paintings of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: A Completely Illustrated Catalogue, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1976, p. 350; J.P. Sigmond and W.T. Kloek, Sea Battles in the Dutch Golden Age, Zwolle 2014, pp. 84-94, fig. 64-65

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, The Battle near Livorno (14 March 1653), Northern Netherlands, after 1653 - 1660', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20028202

(accessed 13 December 2025 04:08:30).

Footnotes