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A thunderstorm damages the rudder of the "Prospero Padre" Oil on canvas, cm 60x92 (inventory Costa n. 82) Signed: Ed. Adam 1899 Havre |
Known data:
TYPE: Pole brig |
YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION: 1884 |
PLACE OF CONSTRUCTION: Lavagna |
SHIPOWNER: Paola Oneto widow of Schiaffino |
CAPTAIN: Prospero Pastorino |
Caption:
"Thunderstorm suffered by the pole brig Prospero Padre, Capt. Prospero Pastorino, in the Lat. 57°, 07' S. and Long. 66°, 40' W Cape Horn, producing damage to the rudder. In thanks of received grace the Capt. offers to Our Lady of Boschetto". |
Notes:
One of the few offers concerning the passage of Cape Horn, one of the most tragic points of nineteenth-century navigation where, because of the forces of the nature there was little probabilities of survival as well as if, like in this case, the breach of the rudder rendered the boat unmanageable. For this reason who miraculously escaped the death felt itself obliged to express his own acknowledgement and that motivated the commission of the offer to an artist of the Havre, along the backway, being so able to offer it to the Madonna of his own land as soon as disembarked at home. The work of Adam conserved to the Sanctuary of Boschetto make therefore possible an acquaintance towards foreign authors and that allows to an interesting comparison with authors of ex-voto of other nationalities and various painting schools. The executive quality of the painting can therefore be observed by the use of an extremely luminous palette and by the effective yield of sea-foam with virtuoso transparency (with which this is rendered over the sailors). In the Maritime Museum of Camogli (Shipsails of Camogli, Genoa 1984, p. 84) are conserved another portrait of the "Prospero Padre" (already " Schiaffino Padre") that shows some slight variations in comparison with the offer: the lack of the figure of the Madonna, the prow turned to right. In the complex all leads back to the hand of Adam who perhaps had the assignment from Captain Pastorino to execute, beyond the offer, also a "profane" version to hold in his own house. |
BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Simonetti, in "The Sailor's Prayer", Rome 1992, p. 686. |