Warships, c. 1910
Aimilios Prosalentis, who occupies an important place among Greek seascape artists such as Volanakis, Altamouras, and Hatzis, produced a series of superb depictions of various seas, which show not only the outstanding training which he received with his painter father, Spyridon Prosalentis, but his fruitful assimilation of the plein air painting which he came to know in Paris during the time of his studies there. As an engineer officer in the Navy, spending his days and nights on board ships, he had the opportunity to study the sea in its various phases, at different times of the day, and to imprint on his works views of the ports and seas which he visited, as well as scenes from the history of the Navy.
In Warships, a classical composition, in which the ships are etched in the light of evening, against a background of a broad sky which occupies the greater part of the picture, Prosalentis produces a painting with traditional and Romantic features, but also with explorations of light and its reflections on the sea and the sky. The rays of the setting sun glide between the clouds on to the foam of the waves, which are rendered luminous with considerable freedom, while the vessels are shown without detailed descriptions and as dark masses, painted against the light.
