Alexey Zubov. The Battle of Grengam

Alexey Zubov's engraving is devoted to the Battle of Grengam on 27 July 1720, the last major naval battle of the Great Northern War. Above the fighting flutters a ribbon inscribed "The Battle of Grengam" with the date, and below, the sea is filled with galleys and sailing ships wreathed in gun smoke.

The battle took place off the island of Grengam in the southern part of the Åland Islands. Mikhail Golitsyn's Russian galley fleet of 61 galleys and 29 boats engaged the Swedish squadron of Vice Admiral K. G. Sjöblad, which included the ship of the line Pommern and four frigates. The Russians boarded and captured all four frigates: Stora Phoenix, Venker, Kiskin and Dansk Örn. A medal "For the Battle of Grengam" was instituted in honour of the victory.

Alexey Zubov (c. 1682 – c. 1751) studied from 1699 under the Dutch engraver Adriaan Schoonebeek, worked in St Petersburg from 1711 and was senior master of the St Petersburg printing house. He issued "The Battle of Grengam" in 1721; he also made an engraving of the ceremonial entry of the four captured frigates into the Neva.