Naval Battle in the Straits of Messina

The present print is probably the most ambitious of the graphic works after Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Printed from two plates, it was etched and engraved by Frans Huys on the basis of drawings that Bruegel would have provided him with. One of these preparatory drawings has survived to the present day (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, inv. no. 191), showing a view of the city of Reggio Calabria in reverse. An anonymous drawing in pen and black and brown ink, probably a copy after the original, acquired in 2011 by the Royal Library of Belgium (inv. no. F-2011-138), gives an idea of how the other, now lost studies by Bruegel of the Strait of Messina may have looked. It is generally accepted that Bruegel was in Italy from 1552 to 1554 and it is likely that he went to Messina, where he may have witnessed, or at least heard about, the encounter of the Italian and the French-Turkish fleets, resulting in the fire and destruction of the city of Reggio in July 1552.

In Frans Huys' print, the smoky clouds rising above 'Rezo' and the eruption of the Mount Etna provide the background and frame for the naval battle in the foreground, depicted with utmost detail, including the turbans of the Turkish crews. The various ships are rendered with the same great accuracy as Frans Huys' contemporary series of Sailing Vessels after Bruegel (see previous lot). Manfred Sellink argued that the print, being expensive to produce, may have been co-published by the Antwerp painter and nobleman Cornelis van Dalem and the famous publisher Hieronymus Cock, even though their names appear individually in the first and the second states, respectively.