Abraham STORCK (Amsterdam, 1644 - 1708) Dutch warships off a Mediterranean shore Oil on canvas (Restorations) Dutch warships off a Mediterranean shore, oil on canvas, by A. Storck 25.79 x 36.02 in. 65.5 x 91.5 cm Provenance: Sir George Edward Leon Collection, Bletchey Park ; Agnews, London; Anonymous sale; New York, Sotheby's, 17 January 1986, no. 105; Anonymous sale; London, Christie's, 11 December 1986, n° 117; Anonymous sale; New York, Christie's, 1 May 2019, no. 210 (as Abraham Storck); Acquired at this sale by the current owner A great marine painter in the purest Dutch tradition, Abraham Storck sometimes sailed his boats, as here, off the shores of the Mediterranean. Like the fleet he depicts, his painting is powerful, his brush taking hold of the canvas as Dutch sailors do of the oceans. The artist's talent is particularly evident in the detail of the figures: people, architecture, but above all in the stern of this ship, which the English called a "man 'o' war", a seventy-four-gun vessel that made up the bulk of European war fleets in the 17th century. Abraham STORCK (Amsterdam, 1644 - 1708) 65.5 x 91.5 cm A great marine painter in the purest Dutch tradition, Abraham Storck sometimes sailed his ships, as here, off the shores of the Mediterranean. Like the fleet he depicts, his painting is powerful, his brush seizing the canvas as Dutch sailors do the oceans. The artist's talent is particularly evident in the detail of the figures: people, architecture, but above all in the stern of this ship, which the English called a "man 'o' war", a seventy-four-gun vessel that made up the bulk of European war fleets in the 17th century.