Rubicilla Minor Nigra and Amelanchier

Mark Catesby

1731-1743

  • Titles Rubicilla Minor Nigra and Amelanchier (Proper)@The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands by Mark Catesby (Book)
  • Artist Mark Catesby, British, 1679 - 1749
  • Medium hand-colored engraving
  • Dimensions sheet: 21 1/4 × 14 5/8 in. (54 × 37.1 cm) plate: 14 × 10 1/4 in. (35.6 × 26 cm)
  • Credit Line Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Catherine H. Collins Collection, AFI.629.1998
  • Work Type print
  • Classification Prints

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On the right in the background stands three columns ruins of the Temple of Serapis in Pozzuoli.The view of the columns is framed by an arched covering of trees along a pathway. On the left stands the statue of an Egyptian god or pharaoh. Behind the statue stands a stone building. Several women and children are seen scattered through the composition.
A skeleton figure rides a horse through a village. He holds a flag in his left hand. Around him are dead bodies and weeping people. In the background stands an army.
Ludolf Backhuysen was one of the foremost painters of marine subjects in 17th c. Holland. Beautifully preserved, this painting ranks among Backhuysen's most striking paintings of the late 1670s. On the left a number of smaller vessels navigate the rough sea in a steady, strong breeze. On the right fishermen are pulling in their nets and beyond the man-'o-war Bruinvisch sails towards the coastline in the far distance. The ominous sky in the foreground with dark, billowing clouds moving in from the left clears in the distance. Using a strong side light to illuminate the ships and the water in the foreground, Backhuysen creates a dramatic composition that emphasizes the changing weather conditions.
An abstract composition made with three straight lines and color, namely green, blue, red, and black.