View of Tripoli

Reinier Nooms (signed by artist), 1662 - 1668

Four views of North-African cities. Reinier Nooms, c. 1665. To protect the Dutch merchant fleet, the navy took the fight the enemy, far beyond the country's coastal waters. The Mediterranean harbours shown here - Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and Salee - were bases from which privateers attacked Dutch merchant shipping. Attempts were made to impose treaties on these cities using the threat of naval force. Between 1661 and 1663 Admiral Michiel de Ruyter cruised the Mediterranean Sea in an effort to stamp out piracy. De Ruyter's ship, de Liefde, is shown in the foreground of the view of Algiers. This series of paintings was displayed in one of the rooms of the Amsterdam Admiralty. The Republic's navy was divided into five regional admiralties, one of which was based in Amsterdam.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-1398
  • Dimensionssupport: height 62.6 cm x width 109.4 cm x thickness 3.5 cm, depth 6 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

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View of Tunis

Reinier Nooms (signed by artist), 1662 - 1668

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View of Tripoli

Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1662 - 1668

Inscriptions

  • signature, on a flag:R. Zeeman

Conservation

  • H. Kat, december 1999: cleaned

Provenance

…; Admiraliteit van Amsterdam (Admiralty of Amsterdam);1J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 173. transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: SK-A-1398

Entry

View of a harbour with town and ships, seen from the sea.

The Amsterdam Admiralty commissioned Reinier Nooms to make four paintings (now SK-A-1396, SK-A-1397, SK-A-1398 and SK-A-1399) after peace with Algiers and other North African states was achieved. It is thought that they were intended as a present for Michiel Adriaensz de Ruyter, but instead they remained with the Amsterdam Admiralty. In 1663, the Amsterdam-based captain Joris de Caulery received a chain worth a hundred silver ducats from the Staten Generaal in return for his present of these four paintings made by Nooms.2G. Sanders, Het present van staat. De gouden ketens, kettingen en medailles verleend door de Staten-Generaal, 1588-1795, Hilversum 2013, pp. 249-51. Obreen incorrectly identified the town in the painting as Syracuse.3J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 173. Sanders on the other hand states that the painting represents the island of Malta, see G. Sanders, Het present van staat. De gouden ketens, kettingen en medailles verleend door de Staten-Generaal, 1588-1795, Hilversum 2013, p. 249, note 72.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 173; P.J.J. van Thiel et al., All the Paintings of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: A Completely Illustrated Catalogue, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1976, p. 419; K. Bejjit, ‘Merchants, Diplomats, and Corsairs: The Dutch in Barbary in De Ruyter’s Time’, in J.R. Bruijn et al. (eds.), De Ruyter: Dutch Admiral, Rotterdam 2011, pp. 57-75

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Reinier Nooms, View of Tripoli, Amsterdam, 1662 - 1668', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20027353

(accessed 6 December 2025 08:08:17).

Footnotes

  • 1J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 173.
  • 2G. Sanders, Het present van staat. De gouden ketens, kettingen en medailles verleend door de Staten-Generaal, 1588-1795, Hilversum 2013, pp. 249-51.
  • 3J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 173. Sanders on the other hand states that the painting represents the island of Malta, see G. Sanders, Het present van staat. De gouden ketens, kettingen en medailles verleend door de Staten-Generaal, 1588-1795, Hilversum 2013, p. 249, note 72.