Jan van Essen

[1] A pupil of Sebastiaen de Bruyn in Antwerp in 1659, Jan van Essen spent time in Turkey between 1665 and 1669 with the Flemish battle painter Pieter Hofman.

[2] Jan van Essen is known for his topographical views and landscape paintings.Three of his known works depict vedute of the port of Naples.

Two of these works are in the collections of respectively the Museo Nazionale di San Martino in Naples and the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu, Romania.

[1] The third is in a private collection in Spain and depicts the port of Naples with the review of the fleet led by Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter.

The painting shows the Viceroy of Naples paying tribute to de Ruyter's fleet after it repulsed an initial attack at the Battle of Stromboli.