Venetian galleys viewed from astern and abeam

The artwork

To the right, on the galleass seen from the side, cannons protrude from the bow and also from the sides, above the oars, where a normal galley carried none. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, with a handmade frame.

The first galleasses left the Venetian Arsenal around 1550: they were large cargo galleys converted into warships, wider and taller than galleys, with thirty or fifty pieces of artillery. On October 7, 1571, at Lepanto, Venice brought six of them in the fleet of the Holy League, under the command of the provveditore Francesco Duodo. They were so heavy that, with a headwind, they were towed ahead of the Christian line, and two did not arrive in time. The other four, when the Ottoman galleys were within range, opened fire from close range and broke their momentum; with their high sides, boarding them was almost impossible.

The engraving is by Vincenzo Coronelli, a Franciscan friar and cosmographer of the Republic of Venice, who closed the first volume of his Atlante Veneto with about fifteen plates of ships from around the world. This one, "Galeazze vedute per poppa, e per fianco", in the cartouche is dedicated to Angelo Emo, a Venetian patrician and "Governor of the Galleass for the Serenissima Republica"; at the top left is the lion of Saint Mark with the book. The reproduced copy, dated 1693, is part of the David Rumsey Map Collection.

Anyone who loves Venice or goes to sea will want it in a study or on the entryway chest, and it is a gift for those who encountered the battle of Lepanto in schoolbooks. To the right, meanwhile, the galleass keeps its cannons pointed forward.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm
With frame: 31 x 44 cm
Material: artwork printed on the finest paper with frayed edges, handmade Amalfi paper
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass