Sea Battle 1616 - 1661

Pieter de Molijn created this painting of a Sea Battle using oil on canvas. Oil paint, of course, has been a favored medium of artists for centuries, but it's not a naturally occurring material. Its emergence as a preferred method tells a story of ingenuity. Think about the labor required to produce it: from the cultivation of flax for linseed oil, to the grinding of pigments, often from mineral sources. And consider also the canvas - stretched and prepared, itself a product of industrial textile manufacture. The painting's appearance, its subtle gradations of tone and texture, are all facilitated by these material supports. But the real reason to think about the materials is what they represent. Molijn lived in a time of massive expansion in global trade. Here, we see a vision of maritime conflict. Both the production and consumption of oil paint and canvas contributed to this emerging world order, and this painting is both an illustration of it, and a participant in it.