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Thomas Wijck, like his contemporaries Nicolas Berchem, Jan Baptist Weenix, Jan Asselyn and Johannes Lingelbach, painted several Italianate harbour scenes, a subject which became popular in the late 1640s. Some of these artists travelled to Italy, it is not known whether Wijck ever made the journey.
The present painting depicts a picturesque mix of merchants, travellers, Levantine types, Turkish slaves and wealthy Dutch burghers, set against the backdrop of a conglomerate of antique and medieval buildings which seem real but are in fact imaginary.
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