Artwork
Bombardment of Algiers by the United Anglo-Dutch Naval Squadron, 1816
Bombardment of Algiers by the United Anglo-Dutch Naval Squadron, 1816 is an oil painting by Gerardus Laurentius Keultjes. It dates from 1817 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
As a work of history painting, the scene focuses on the military engagement, illustrating the naval vessels involved in the attack against the coastal city.
The painting depicts the historical 1816 bombardment of Algiers executed by a combined Anglo-Dutch naval squadron. As a work of history painting, the scene focuses on the military engagement, illustrating the naval vessels involved in the attack against the coastal city. The visual narrative includes specific elements such as boats navigating the waters and mountains forming the backdrop of the harbor.
This composition serves to document a significant diplomatic and military intervention aimed at ending Barbary piracy and the enslavement of Europeans in North Africa.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting executed on canvas, a traditional combination suited to history painting of the early nineteenth century. Its modest dimensions, 61 cm in height by 86 cm in width, indicate an intimate cabinet-scale format rather than a monumental display piece. The composition depicts the bombardment scene, incorporating recognizable elements such as vessels and the coastal terrain of Algiers, rendered in a documentary manner consistent with the conventions of marine and military history painting of the period.
The handling of oil paint on canvas would have allowed Keultjes to model the atmospheric effects of naval gunfire and to articulate the rigging and hulls of the Anglo-Dutch squadron with the precision expected of the genre. No condition reports or detailed stylistic analyses are documented in the available sources.
History & Provenance
The work titled Bombardment of Algiers by the United Anglo-Dutch Naval Squadron was painted by Gerardus Laurentius Keultjes in 1817. It is an oil on canvas history painting depicting a naval engagement, measuring 61 centimeters in height and 86 centimeters in width. The artwork entered the collection of the Rijksmuseum, where it remains on display at Villa Welgelegen.
Its creation history is documented as beginning in 1817, with the piece classified as a history painting and a work of oil paint.
The painting Bombardment of Algiers by the United Anglo-Dutch Naval Squadron, 1816 by Gerardus Laurentius Keultjes is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The work, created in 1817 on canvas, measures 61 cm in height and 86 cm in width. While the source identifies the institution as the Rijksmuseum, it also references Villa Welgelegen in connection with the collection.
No specific inventory or accession number is provided in the available records. The provided sources do not contain information regarding the artwork's exhibition history.
Overview
Gerardus Laurentius Keultjes painted Bombardment of Algiers by the United Anglo‑Dutch Naval Squadron, 1816 in oil in 1817. The canvas records the naval assault on Algiers, showing a fleet of wooden warships unleashing broadsides toward a distant shoreline. The work is part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection and is classified as a history painting.
Context
The 1816 bombardment marked a decisive moment in the suppression of Barbary piracy, prompting diplomatic pressure on the Regency of Algiers. Keultjes’ work belongs to a broader European tradition of naval history paintings that celebrated military victories while also serving as visual records of contemporary geopolitics.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Gerardus Laurentius Keultjes (1786–1821) was an artist, born in Utrecht.
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