(Zara 1842–1905 Graz)
Royal and Imperial Summer Squadron travelling to Great Britain, Denmark and Germany in the North Sea, 1890 – the ships Crown Princess Stephanie, Crown Prince Rudolf, Tiger and Emperor Franz Joseph I, signed, dated and inscribed L. De Rubelli Gorizia 1891, 422,
oil on canvas, 75 x 100 cm, framed, (Rei)

Provenance:
Private Collection, Vienna.)

We are grateful to Dr Wladimir Aichelburg for the scientific assistance.

Royal and Imperial Summer Squadron in the North Sea, 1890
This important work by the traditional Austrian naval painter is not an everyday piece, and was possibly commissioned by the marine section of the Royal and Imperial War Ministry, the shipyard management of the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino or one of the highest-ranking participants on the journey.
The summer squadron (Sommereskadre), composed of recently built, highly modern ships still coated with the Victorian paintwork typical of the turn of the century, passed through Gibraltar, Portsmouth, where the birthday of the Prince of Wales, who visited the ships, was celebrated, Cowes, Cuxhaven and Copenhagen, where the ships were also visited by the Danish king, over to the Baltic Sea. In Kiel a naval parade took place in front of Emperor Wilhelm II, who also came aboard the Austro-Hungarian warships.

From left to right, the precise, detailed depiction of the battleships in the passage shows CROWN PRINCESS ARCHDUCHESS STEPHANIE and CROWN PRINCE ARCHDUKE RUDOF as well as the cruiser TIGER and EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEPH I.
(from: Wladimir Aichelburg: “Register der k.u.k. Kriegsschiffe” [“Register of the Imperial and Crown Warships”], NWV Vienna-Graz 2002)