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An early, unevenly executed, example of the Mediterranean harbour scenes painted by Jan Baptist Weenix and his son Jan (cf. attributed to Jan Weenix P146). Painted in Weenix’s slightly nervous, fractured style, an Italianate setting is suggested by Corinthian columns, a porphyry tomb (copied from one which then stood before the Pantheon, Rome) and a pyramid, evoking the tomb of Cestius near the Porta Ostiensis, Rome. The motif of the couple dallying before antique ruins may be intended to warn the viewer of the dangers to which such dissipation leads, namely to metaphorical ruin and death. By the time of the picture’s purchase in the nineteenth century, however, any possible moralizing connotations had been forgotten. Weenix’s harbour scenes were then appreciated principally for their picturesque decorative qualities.

The Wallace Collection

London

Title

A Coast Scene with Classical Ruins

Date

1649

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 82 x W 107.5 cm

Accession number

P117

Acquisition method

acquired by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, 1843; bequeathed to the nation by Lady Wallace, 1897

Work type

Painting

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The Wallace Collection

Hertford House, Manchester Square, London, Greater London W1U 3BN England

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