Coastal view with men loading large ships

In the 1630s the German artist Johann Wilhelm Baur was in Rome after having traveled to Venice and further south to Naples. He established himself as a painter of small gouaches and among his most frequent subjects were harbors and coastal views populated by a multitude of miniature characters. Surviving drawings by his hand show how Baur carefully studied different kinds of vessels from life and from the etchings of artists such as Stefano della Bella and Jacques Callot who deeply influenced him (Johann Wilhelm Baur 1607-1642. Maniérisme et baroque en Europe, exhib. cat., Strasbourg, Palais Rohan, 1998, pp. 26-27).

Dr. Regina Bonnefoit has kindly confirmed the attribution of this work.