Battle of Koróni, 1685

CORON / Assediata per Mare e per Terra dal Armi Christiane e presa / per assalton li 11 Agosto 1685

A medium oblique view of the Battle of Koróni [Coron], fought on 11 August 1685 between the combined Venetian navy and army, commanded by Francesco Morosini (later Doge of Venice; 1619-94) and Turkish-held Koróni, resulting in a Venetian victory following a siege of the town which lasted 49 days. Great Turkish War (1683-99).

This action was part of the Venetian war against the Turks. The Venetians had lost the island of Crete to the Turks in the war of 1645-69. The Venetians, now the ally of Austria following the Turkish failure to take Vienna in 1683, conquered the Pelopponesus (the Morea) and occupied Athens. Morosini, who had been Captain-General of the Venetian forces on Crete was now in command of a Venetian fleet pursuing the Ottomans.

The view shows the camps and batteries of the Viennese attack on Koróni, with the Venetian fleet, and, in the left foreground, General Morosini, who is presumably to the right of the group of four horsemen behind whom flies the Venetian flag. Soldiers carrying ladders, preparatory to scaling the walls of the town, can be seen in the approach trenches, some of them being blown up by a mine. Bottom right, the body of Jean Hector de Fay, Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in Malta, who commanded the Venetian troops of that order, is carried on a stretcher, later to be buried in the cathedral of Saint Jean de La Valette in Malta.

Additional text: [top right, below title, in title panel, a key, A-I, K-N, to the fortress of Coron, the navy, Venetian ships involved in the attacks on the enemy encampment, Turkish camp, Venetian trenches and approaches, the route taken by the Venetians towards the enemy, Turkish heads decapitated by the Venetians, S. la Tour, the Maltese General who remained and was killed, mines, the attack and capture of the Piazza, General Francesco Morosini.]

For further reading, see:
K.M. Setton, Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the Seventeenth century, Philadelphia, 1991.

Condition: no fold lines; creases; brown discolouration; small tears to bottom edge. Verso: ink smudges; an impression from the mount of an underlying item, perhaps while both items were part of the dal Pozzo collection, can be seen across the bottom.