from the distant past

This painting is of a ship or style of ship used during the midievil times of the world, a row boat coming from a flagship with one person in it, probably a messenger for a diplomatic mission.
Something that we miss from midievil art work is the time and effort used in creating the paintings, usually the painter would have to make his own oils for the painting out of linseed oil, and combining wax to make the painting last longer, then add color wherever he/she could find it, the next step would be to make the paint brushes using horse hair, eyelashes, his/her own hair, or root hairs, The canvas would be whatever was available. Next the artists gets to finally make their masterpiece, if they mess up, it is right back to the beginning.