Willem Adriaensz Key (Breda 1515/16-1568 Antwerp), The Crucifixion, circa 1550. Oil on panel, 102 x 74 cm. Signed on the cross: W. KAY © COLNAGHI

Provenance: private collection, Belgium, until 2023; acquired from the above

Literature: Koenraad Jonckheere, Willem Key (1516-1568): Portrait of a Humanist Painter, Turnhout, 2011.

Note: This signed panel is a recently rediscovered work by Willem Key. Key is most known for his portrait paintings, which account for roughly two-thirds of his known output. However, he was also a gifted painter of historical and religious subjects - this picture is a testament to Key’s powerful religious achievements, several of which were destroyed during the Iconoclastic Fury, or Beeldenstorm, that swept the Low Countries and famously struck Antwerp in 1566.

Willem Key was a prominent sixteenth-century painter from Antwerp, then one of the greatest commercial and artistic centres of Europe. Recognised for his exceptional talents, Key enjoyed high social and artistic status, earning the admiration of both local nobility and international figures, including Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, and Antoine Perrenot, Cardinal Granvelle.

Marten van Valckenborch (Leuven 1535-1612 Frankfurt), Animated village during the wintertime. Oil on panel. H 43 x 61 cm - framed 58 x 75 cm. Signed with monogram lower left 'MVV' © Jan Muller Antiques

Michele Tosini, known as Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio (1503-1577), Portrait of Leonora Alvarez de Toledo as Judith, circa 1572-1576. Oil on panel, 118 x 87 cm © Romigioli Antichità

Study by Professor Antonio Geremicca

Provenance: noble Florentine collection.

Note: Wife of Pietro de Medici (1554-1604), son of Grand Duke Cosimo I (1519-1574), the girl in question was Eleonora Alvarez de Toledo (1555-1576), known as Leonora or Dionora, daughter of Garcia (1514-1577), Marquis of Villafranca, and niece of the more famous Eleonora di Toledo (1522-1562) Duchess of Florence.

Santi di Tito (Sansepolcro 1536-1603 Florence), Portrait of Senator Bartolomeo Panciatichi (1507-1582). Oil on poplar panel, 110.5 x 85.5 cm © Stéphane Renard Fine Art.

Flemish school of the 16th century, Allegory of Africa, After the Allegories of the Continents by Maerten de Vos (engraving by Adriaen Collaert). Oil on copper, 29.5 x 24.5 cm © Dei Bardi Art

Provenance: private collection, Florence

Literature : New Hollstein, Collaert VI.35.1316; Hollstein XLIV.277.1398

Pieter Brueghel the Younger (Brussels 1564-1638 Antwerp), The Resurrection of Christ. Oil on panel, 47.20 x 34.30 cm. Signed BRVEGHEL bottom left. © De Jonckheer

Provenance: Olive Dorothea Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Countess Fitzwilliam (1911-1975); Christie’s, London, 12 December 1986, lot 37; private collection

Literature: Klaus Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, Luca Verlag, Lingen 1998/2000, vol. I, pp. 439-440, cat. 435, fig. 318, repr.

Peter Brueghel the Younger (Brussels 1564-1638 Antwerp), Winter Landscape with Skaters - The Bird Trap. Oil on panel, 39 x 57 cm © Galerie Florence de Voldère

Among the strong, committed subjects that make up the oeuvre of Peter Brueghel the Elder, The Bird Trap is like a gift in the form of a poem all its own. The very different subject at the heart of this work is pure emotion. Whether provoked by the silence of nature, or by an awareness of the human scale in the macrocosm, or for any other reason, it remains a masterpiece out of time.

Frans Francken I or Frans Francken the Elder (Antwerp, 1542-1616), The Amazons fighting at Troy, circa 1600. Oil on copper, 34 x 41.5 cm © Galerie Lowet de Wotrenge
 

With thanks to Dr. Ursula Häerting for confirming the attribution to Frans I Francken and for providing a written certificate

Provenance: sale, Christie's London, 13 March 1987, lot 31; private collection, Mallorca

Note: Frans I 'the Elder' Francken was born in Herentals in 1542. His father, Nicolaas Francken, was an obscure painter whose oeuvre remains unknown, but can be seen as the founding father of one of the most important dynasties of artists in the Southern Netherlands. Both Frans and his siblings Ambrosius and Hieronymus - who were to become painters as well - were first taught by their father. Karel van Mander mentions in his Schilder-boeck that Frans was later a pupil of the leading Antwerp Romanist painter Frans Floris. He became a member of the Antwerp guild of St Luke in 1567, and served several times as its dean. Frans Francken married Elisabeth Mertens; the couple had many children, of whom six were still alive at the time of his death in 1616: Thomas, Frans ('the Younger'), Hieronymus, Ambrosius, Magdalena and Elisabeth. The four sons all became painters and received their initial training from their father, who also taught several other pupils, such as Gortzius Geldorp.

Much like his teacher Frans Floris, Frans Francken was one of the principal painters in Antwerp in the initial decades of the Counter-Reformation, working on many altar pieces which were commissioned to replace the ones that had been destroyed by the iconoclasm of the Calvinists. For these projects he regularly collaborated with his brothers; for example, for an Adoration of the Magi triptych (Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and London, Brompton Oratory), which bears his monogram as well as that of his brother Hieronymus (along with both brothers' portraits in profile, which they impishly included in the wings of the tryptich).

Stylistically, Frans' early work was clearly indebted to Frans Floris; later on he developed his own, more classicising style, although he remained first and foremost a mannerist painter. He seems to have been skilled at portraiture, too. Besides large-scale pictures, he also produced small-size cabinet pictures, often painted on copper - a genre in which his son Frans II would excel. The present work is a beautiful example of such production, and a valuable addition to the small body of work that can be attributed to him in this genre, as has been confirmed by Dr. Ursula Härting in a written certificate dated October 4th, 2023. She dates the present work to around 1600, or possibly a bit earlier.

This small oil on copper depicts the Amazons fighting in front of the city of Troy, which can be seen in the background. According to Homer's Iliad, the Amazon queen Penthesilea had led her troops to Troy in support of King Priam in his fight against the Greeks. The queen, who can be seen in the foreground spearing a hapless Greek, was a fearless warrior who could best any man (according to one version of the story, she even killed Achilles, who was however subsequently brought back to life by Zeus). Ultimately, however, Penthesilea was slain by Achilles, who - according to some authors - fell deeply in love with her at the very moment of her death.

Abel Grimmer (Antwerp, circa 1570-circa 1618), Landscape symbolising the season of spring. Oil on panel, 25 x 36 cm. © Floris van Wanroij Fine Art.

Provenance: sale London, 1956; with Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam, with label verso; private collection A. Heyn, Aerdenhout, 1961, by descent; private collection, The Netherlands

Literature: Exh. cat., 1961, Kunsthandel P. de Boer. Amsterdam, cat. n° 28, with ill.; Exh. cat., 1965, De landman en de muze. Een tentoonstelling van schilderijen, aquarellen, tekeningen, grafiek, beeldhouwwerken en handschriften. Haarlem, with ill.; Berthier de Sauvigny, Reine de, Jacob et Abel Grimmer, Catalogue raisonné, Brussels, 1991, p. 302, n° 6

Exhibition: Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, 14 June 1965-29 August 1965, De landman en de muze. Een tentoonstelling van schilderijen, aquarellen, tekeningen, grafiek, beeldhouwwerken en handschriften, n° 16.

Abel Grimmer (Antwerp, circa 1570/73-1618/19), The Tower of Babel, 1604. Oil on panel, 33.90 x 45 cm. Signed and dated ABEL GRIMER FECIT 1604 on a stone, front right © De Jonckheere

Provenance: Kunsthandel P. de Boer, 1930/1931; Galerie van Diemen, Berlin, 1933; C. Benedict, Paris, 1955; Douwes, Amsterdam, at the Delft Fair, 1972; Sale, Christie's, Amsterdam, 17 October 1977, n° 317, repr.; Richard Green Gallery, London (FL 90,000); Galerie J.O. Leegenhoek, Paris, 1978; private collection

Literature: P. de Boer, Tentoonstelling van werken van Joost de Momper, eenige voorlopers en tijdgenoten, Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1930, n° 84; H. Minkovski, Aus dem Nebel der Vergangenheit steigt der Turm zu Babel, Berlin, 1960, n° 190; R. Bertier de Sauvigny, Jacob et Abel Grimmer, Brussels, 1991, p. 202, n° XLIV; H. Minkovski, Vermutungen über den Turm zu Babel, Luca Verlag Freren, 1991, p. 187, n° 259, repr. p. 186

Exhibition: Amsterdam, Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Tentoonstelling van werken van Joost de Momper, eenige voorlopers en tijdgenoten, December 1930-January 1931, n° 84.

Jan Brueghel the Elder (Brussels 1568-1625 Antwerp), The element of earth, 1606. Oil on copper, 10.7 x 10.7 cm. Signed 'BRVEGHEL 1606' © Jan Muller Antiques

Expert’s certificate by Dr. Luuk Pijl on 6 September 2024

Provenance: the Rowley Gallery Ltd; four generations at the Palmer collection at Bussock Wood, United Kingdom expertise n° 456

Note: This beautifully preserved, miniature-like painting on copper by Jan Brueghel the Elder is an exciting discovery. It once belonged to a set of four elements: two other paintings are known, another one is missing. Jan Brueghel was fascinated by the rendition of the classical elements Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. His set of four elaborate paintings in the Doria Pamphilj collection in Rome and the beautiful set currently divided between the Louvre, Paris and the Galeria Ambrosiana, Milan, are among his finest and most ambitions works.

The present Element of Earth was entirely unknown till it resurfaced in England earlier this year. Two other elements, Air and Fire, from the same set, were auctioned together at Christie's, London, July 24th, 1931, lot 155. The element of Air was last seen at the art dealer's Raffael Valls, London (his 2003 catalogue, n° 10), whilst Fire was with the German dealer Ekkart Lingenauber in 1990. Nothing is known as to the whereabouts of the missing painting representing the element Water (see: Klaus Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Lingen 2008-10, III, pp. 1058-59).

The elements in the set are represented by a deity. In the present work, the element of Earth is exemplified by Ceres with four companions. Ceres stands for earth, harvest and abundance. She is usually depicted with ears of corn and flowers in her hair and the cornucopia. The figures are surrounded by a wealth of beautifully rendered flowers and fruits and at the left hand side we can see tiny figures harvesting in the vista. To the right of the figures, a peaceful gathering of deer and rabbits is depicted under a large tree. A suggestion of architecture is painted in the blue hazy distance to the left. It is remarkable that the sobriquets put upon our master such as Velvet Brueghel, Flower Brueghel, and Paradise Brueghel all apply to this gem-like painting of such modest scale.

Jan Brueghel was born 1568 in Brussels, the son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Mayken Coecke van Aelst. His famous father died when he was only one year old, and Karel van Mander wrote in his Schilder-boeck, published in 1604, that he and his brother Pieter were taught drawing and painting by their grandmother, Mayken Verhulst. Like his father, he travelled to Italy, recorded as having been in Naples in 1590. He managed to interest several important patrons in his creations, most notably Federico Borromeo, the founder of the Galleria Ambrosiana in Milan. After his return to Antwerp in 1596, he developed a close friendship with Rubens, and the two masters often collaborated. He died in 1625, leaving behind an extensive and very diverse body of work, which had a great impact on the next generation of painters and draftsmen in Antwerp and beyond.

Isaak Soreau (Frankfurt, 1604-1644), Still life. Oil on panel, 60 x 86 cm. © Galerie Florence de Voldère

From a Tournai family settled in Hanau, Isaac Soreau was apprenticed to his father Daniel Soreau, whose workshop was taken over by Sébastien Stoskopff. At the age of 22, he left for Antwerp, where his encounter with Jacob van Hulsdonck and his work proved decisive. Could he have been his pupil? This remains a subject of debate for art historians.

Ottavio Vannini (Florence, 1585-1644), Susanna and the Elders, circa 1615-1620. Oil on canvas, 135 x 170 cm © Giammarco Cappuzzo Fine Art.

Provenance: private collection, Italy

Literature: G. Papi, A New 'Susanna' by Ottavio Vannini, Paragone, 805 (3rd series, 132), 2017, pp. 30-33, col. pl. 34

Note: Ottavio Vannini was born in Florence in 1585, as recorded in the city’s Baptismal Registers. According to the two scholars Dr. Gianni Papi and Dr. Filippo Gheri, this painting represents an important addition to Vannini’s catalogue, due to its brilliant pictorial quality and its embodiment of the painter's interests and ideas. The current work serves as a milestone for understanding Vannini’s Roman period, showcasing the impact that classicist artistic culture had on him after the second decade of the seventeenth century

Bartolomeo Manfredi (Ostiano 1582-1622 Rome), The Denial of Saint Peter, circa 1618-1620. Oil on canvas, 125 x 183 cm © Giammarco Cappuzzo Fine Art.

Provenance: private collection, Belgium

Note: This unpublished Denial of Saint Peter is an important autograph work by Bartolomeo Manfredi, painted during his mature years. The evident elements of style and quality of this new Denial of Saint Peter, especially in its best preserved places, affirms Manfredi’s authorship, which has been confirmed by leading expert Dr. Gianni Papi.

Jacob van Loo (Sluis 1614-1670 Paris), Portrait of a woman and her son as Venus and Cupid, circa 1670. Oil on canvas, 87.5 x 77.5 cm. Signed and dated lower right 'J. v. Loo f / An. o 16 (...)'. © Galerie Lowet de Wotrenge

Provenance: sale, Angers, November 25th, 1970, lot 198; Galerie Heim-Gairac, Paris, 1971; sale, Sotheby’s, London, May 2nd, 2018, lot 35; where acquired by the previous owner

Literature: K. Bender, The Venus of the Low Countries. A topical catalogue of sculptures, reliefs, paintings, frescos, drawings, prints and illustrations of identified artists of the Low Countries, 2010, p. 80; D. Mandrella, Jacob van Loo 1614-1670, Paris, 2011, p. 203, fig. 146, ill.

Note: Jacob van Loo was one of the greatest artists of the Dutch Golden Age. Born in Sluis, a town in the Dutch Republic, in 1614, he trained with his father, the genre painter Jan van Loo. At some point in the 1630s, van Loo moved to Amsterdam, marrying Anna Lengele, the sister of painter Maerten Lengele, in 1642. During his first ten years in the city, van Loo mostly produced complex historical and mythological scenes inspired by the Flemish school and the work of Van Dyck. In the 1650s, the artist started painting scenes of galanterie, featuring musicians, soldiers and young women engaged in conversations, gambling and flirting, which were a source of inspiration for similar works by Johannes Vermeer.

Van Loo was also highly esteemed as a painter of nudes and portraits, and received important public commissions. In the autumn of 1660, the artist fled Amsterdam after fatally stabbing the wine merchant Hendrik Breda during an altercation at an inn. Sentenced to death in absentia, he escaped to Paris, where he settled with his family and continued enjoying great success. In 1663, he was admitted to the Académie and, four years later, obtained French citizenship. Following his death in 1670, his two sons Jean and Abraham followed in their father’s footsteps, continuing a painterly family tradition that would successfully last until the nineteenth century.

According to David Mandrella, the author of Jacob van Loo's catalogue raisonné, the present painting is one of the latest known by the artist, dating from 1670, the year of his death. It shows a woman in half-length, with dark, curvy long hair embellished by a shimmering string of pearls. She wears an all’antica dark green robe, revealing her nude breasts to the viewer. Set before a landscape, she hands a golden apple to her son, a smiling child half-dressed in a classicising drape. The Greek myth The Judgement of Paris, narrating the contest between the three most beautiful goddesses of Olympus – Venus, Hera and Athena – for the prize of a golden apple addressed “to the fairest,” allows us to identify the subject as Venus with her son Cupid. By the time the present work was painted, this subject had become very popular amongst Dutch painters, including, for example, Govert Flinck and Rembrandt’s pupils.

Throughout his career, van Loo treated this subject on at least two other occasions, as exemplified by his Venus and Cupid (1649, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen) and An Allegory of Venus and Cupid (1654, Speed Art Museum, Kentucky). The former is exemplary of van Loo’s compositions, with few isolated figures reminiscent of Jacob Adriaensz Backer. In the latter, the artist exploited the mythological subject to create an allegory of wealth, highlighting the vanity and futility of earthly pleasures. During his Parisian years, the artist is believed to have approached mythological subjects exclusively with the purpose of disguising portraits – a practice probably born in Venice in the seventeenth century, which later spread to the Netherlands and France. The ambivalent fusion between these two genres is exemplified by a now lost painting by the artist, Ulysse découvrant Achille parmi les filles de Lycomède (1666), commissioned by a member of the Van Gangelt family, where the figures bear the traits of the daughters of the banker Caspar van Gangelt and those of the explorer François Caron. Similarly, the figure of Venus in the present work is believed to be a portrait of a real woman, possibly the wife of an élite Parisian patron who commissioned the painting, depicted together with their son. As per other similar mythological portraits by van Loo, such as the Portrait de femme en Diane (1668), the woman’s features are individualised and her gaze confronts the viewer, as if inviting him to recognise her.

The present canvas is an exquisite example of the refined yet sensuous classicism of van Loo’s late oeuvre. The woman’s beautifully rendered, half-nude figure recalls the eroticised charge of van Loo’s works of the Amsterdam period, when he was celebrated for the exceptional quality of his nudes. According to the contemporary chronicler Arnoud Houbraken, van Loo excelled at “painting nudes, and female nudes in particular,” to the extent that his mythological scenes featuring naked gods and goddesses were more sought after and considered superior to those of his competitor Rembrandt. Van Loo was able to develop a type of academic nude, classical yet imbued with life, that succeeded in fulfilling the ambitions and social aspirations of the élite of the time.

In paintings such as the present one, van Loo excelled in achieving the so-called welstant, or the art of standing well, which allowed his aristocratic clients to distinguish themselves from the inferior classes, by creating parallelisms with the classical world and its aesthetic canons. In the seventeenth-century Netherlands, a mythological subject such as Venus and Cupid was often used to justify the depiction of erotic images, which would have otherwise have been considered inappropriate. For a considerable part of the aristocratic and even burgher élite, a certain amount of erotic playfulness was permitted in both painting and literature, with Venus and Cupid being particularly appropriate subjects for love poems and marriage-related paintings. Works such as the present one had voyeuristic implications and aimed to stimulate the senses: by having the woman looking out at the viewer – which, in this case, would probably be her husband –, van Loo expressed the contemporary belief that the gaze of a woman could send out a powerful force that entered through the eyes of the beloved, inflaming his heart. In accordance with the sixteenth-century Italian tradition, contemplating images of beautiful nudes in the privacy of one’s own room was believed to increase the chances of generating beautiful and healthy offspring, such as the present handsome child.

Juan de Arellano (Santorcaz 1614-1676 Madrid), attributed to, Boraccine roses, gills, hibiscus, carnations and tulips in a glass vase. Oil on canvas, 78 x 63 cm. © Romigioli Antichità

Report by Professor Claudia Salvi.

Provenance: private collection, Florence.

Pieter Neefs The Elder (Antwerp 1578/1590-after 1656/1661), and the participation of Frans Francken The Younger (Antwerp, 1581-1642) for the figures, Church Interior, inspired by Antwerp Cathedral. Oil on panel, 41.5 x 71 cm. Signed Peeter De Neef Franck In. Stamped on the back with the mark MV of the manufacturer Michiel Vriendt, active in Antwerp between 1615 and 1637, and the arms of the City of Antwerp. © De Jonckheere

Provenance: Letizia Bonaparte Collection (1750-1836); Charles Talbot Collection (1753-1827), through Lucien Bonaparte; Bertram Arthur Talbot Collection, 17th Earl of Shrewsbury, 17th Earl of Waterford (1832-1856) Alton Towers, Stafford; Sale, Shrewsbury, Christie & Manson, London, 4 July, 1857, lot 300; Sholto Charles John Hay Douglas Collection, 20th Earl of Morton (1906-1976); Sotheby’s, London Belgravia, 28 July 1976, lot 42; private collection, Spain.

Frans Snijders (Antwerp, 1579-1659), Kitchen interior with two dogs, offal and a basket with fruits and vegetables, circa 1620. Oil on canvas, 113 x 183 cm. Signed upper left: F. SNIJDERS. Fecit © Klaas Muller
 

Provenance: sale Campo, Antwerp, 13-15 December 1966, lot 90; sale Sotheby’s, London, 7 October 1981, lot 123, ill. p. 89; sale Sotheby’s, London, 7 July 1982, lot 233, ill.; private collection, Belgium

Note: In a kitchen, a dog (a Friesian Wetterhound) guards its booty from another dog that appears on the left. Apparently, he has pulled away from his chain and is not giving up his booty (entrails) lightly. On the right of the painting, we see an overturned basket with artichokes, asparagus, a lemon and apples. At the top left, the painting is proudly signed 'F. SNIJDERS.FECIT'.

Frans Snijders had a predilection for depicting dogs and they appear frequently in his oeuvre. About seven -mostly larger works as is the case here- can be named as scenes in larders or front rooms of kitchens. The theme is usually similar: a dog defends its stolen loot against another dog (e.g. a painting on loan with a similar theme among others in the Snijders-Rockoxhuis 'Larder with dogs and a cows head').

It remains conjecture whether Snijders was pursuing a metaphor or deeper symbolism with this theme. However: each time, he shows himself to be a fantastic cinematographer and manages to render a scene just before the climax through which he builds the tension. Also typical is the dog's head on the left, which is only partially depicted (cut off from the composition it seems) which generates even more movement. The textures of the fur, meat, vegetables and fruit are fantastically rendered.

Floris van Schooten (Haarlem, circa 1585-1656), Still life with cheeses, bread and nuts. Oil on panel, 40 x 56 cm - framed 52 x 69 cm. Signed with a monogram on the blade of the knife 'FVS' © Jan Muller Antiques.

Jusepe Ribera (Jativa 1591-1652 Napoli), An Apostle, circa 1635-1638. Oil on canvas, 76 x 62 cm. © Giammarco Cappuzzo Fine Art
 

With gratitude to Dr. Nicola Spinosa, Dr. Riccardo Lattuada and Dr. Viviana Farina, leading experts of Jusepe Ribera to have confirmed the attribution.

Provenance: private collection, France; private collection, Italy

Note: This Apostle is part of the cycle of portraits of the Apostles by the same artist, housed in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Diagnostic analyses conducted on the canvas have confirmed its full compatibility with works executed around 1630 by the painter, also revealing the presence of preparatory drawing, a method he frequently employed.

Artemisia Gentileschi (Rome 1593-1656 Naples), Bathsheba at her bath, circa 1636-1638. Oil on canvas, 185.2 x 145.4 cm © DYS44 Lampronti Gallery

Provenance: private collection, UK; Matthiesen Gallery, London

Literature: M. Nicolaci, catalogue entry 41, in Artemisia Gentileschi: Storia di una Passione, R. Contini and F. Solinas (eds.), exh. cat., Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2011-2012, p. 228; M. Nicolaci, catalogue entry 52, in Artemisia, 1593-1654, R.P. Ciardi, R. Contini, and F. Solinas (eds.), exh. cat., Fondation Dina Vierny-Musée Maillol, Paris, 2012, pp. 184-185; N. Spinosa, Grazia e Tenerezza in Posa: Bernardo Cavallino e il Suo Tempo, 1616-1656 (Rome, 2013), p. 403, ill. A3.a; R. Lattuada, "Unknown Paintings by Artemisia in Naples and New Insights into Her Daily Life and 'Bottega'," in Artemisia Gentileschi in a Changing Light, ed. S. Baker, London-Turnhout, 2015, pp. 203-205, figs. 34–39

Exhibitions: Artemisia Gentileschi: Storia di una passione, Palazzo Reale, Milan, 22 September 2011-29 January 2012, curated by R. Contini and F. Solinas; Artemisia, 1593–1654, Fondation Dina Vierny-Musée Maillol, Paris, 14 March-15 July 2012, curated by R. P. Ciardi, R. Contini, and F. Solinas; Artemisia, Vrouw & Macht, Rijksmuseum Twente, Enschede, 26 September 2021-23 January 2022

Lucas van Uden (Antwerp, 1595-1672), Panoramic view of a castle on the edge of the Sonian forest. Oil on canvas, 159.5 x 232.5 cm © Stéphane Renard Fine Art

Hendrick de Meijer (Rotterdam circa 1620-after 1689/before 1698 Rotterdam (?)), Sailing vessels and a ferry on the calm Oude Maas river as seen from the North, with a view of Dordrecht and the Grote Kerk beyond. Oil on panel, H 74 x 104 cm. Signed and dated ‘H.D. M … 16 . 9’, lower middle on the side of ferry. © Floris van Wanroij Fine Art.
 

The present picture is recorded at the RKD in The Hague under n° 534728

Provenance: European noble collection, with collector's seal on the reverse; private collection, Mr. Gustave Rothan (1822-1890), Paris; his sale at Paul Chevallier ‘Tableaux anciens des écoles flamande, hollandaise, française, espagnole, italienne et allemande formant l’important collection de M.G. Rothan’, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 29th, 1890, lot 25 (as by Aelbert Cuyp); collection Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, Lausanne, 1935; private collection, Switzerland
Literature: Beck, H.U., Jan van Goyen 1596-1656, Ein Oeuvreverzeichnis, Amsterdam, 1972/1991, Van Gendt, vol. VI, pp. 268-271; Beer, Gerlinde de, The Golden Age of Dutch Marine Painting, The Inder Rieden Collection, Leiden, 2019, Primavera Pers, pp. 648-654; Bernt, W., The Netherlandish Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol. II, New York, 1970, Phaidon, p. 78; Bol, L.J., Die Holländische Marinemalerei des 17. Jahrhunderts, Braunschweig, 1973, Klinkhardt & Biermann, pp. 269-270; Schadee, N., Rotterdamse meesters uit de Gouden Eeuw, Zwolle, 1994, Waanders, p. 288

Melchior d'Hondecoeter (Utrecht 1636-1695 Amsterdam), The bird concert, a family of ducks near a pond with a farm in the background, circa 1666. Oil on canvas, 102.5 x 87.5 cm. Traces of signature at lower right: M. © Douwes Fine Art b.v.
 

With thanks to Dr Fred Meijer who wrote a certificate for the work on 9 August 2024, confirming the authenticity of the artwork

Provenance: sale collection Konstantin Tifoxilos, Vienna, Wawra, 28 November 1904, lot 75, b&w ill. opposite title page; Galerie Arnot, London 1919; Heirs to Minister Dr. H. Sulzer, Winterthur; Gebr. Douwes Fine Art, Amsterdam, n° 8377, 1968 shown at the Delftse Antique Fair; private collection, The Netherlands; thence by descent to the current owners

Exhibition: Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Der unbekannte Winterthurer Privatbesitz 1500-1900, September-October 1942 (Kunstverein Winterthur), cat. n° 145

Nicolaes van Verendael (Antwerp, 1640-1691), Still life with flowers in a glass vase. Oil on canvas, 45 x 36.5 cm © Klaas Muller

With gratitude to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for confirming the attribution of the present painting. He dates the work to the first half of the 1670s.

Balthazar van den Bossche (Antwerp, 1681-1715), The sculptor’s studio (Giambologna’s studio), 1710. Oil on canvas, 72 x 85 cm. Signed and dated 1710 on the right lower corner © Ars Antiqua

Published on RKD

Provenance: sale Christie's 4 June 1943, lot 66

Christophe Huet (Pontoise 1700-1759 Paris), Two Capuchin monkeys, 1737. Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 56.5 cm. Signed and dated. © Costermans

Tommaso Ruiz (active between 1710-1750), View of the Port of Naples. Oil on canvas, 56 x 151 cm. Signed lower right and dated 'Tommaso Ruiz 17..' © Ars Antiqua

Bernardo Bellotto (Venice 1722-1780 Varsavia), Roma, veduta del Colosseo e dell’Arco di Costantino, 1743-1744. Oil on canvas, 61 x 98.1 cm. © DYS44 Lampronti Gallery

Provenance: private collection, New England; R. Birkedal, Seekonk, Massachusetts; T. Gilbert Brouillette (1906-1970), Falmouth, Massachusetts; Alicia Corchenuk de Buenfil, Città del Messico; Con Steven Juvenis e Firestone & Parson, Massachusetts, entro il 1976; Vendita anonima ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Sotheby's, 4 July 1990, lot 19 (as Canaletto); acquired from a private collection; Vendita anonima ('The Property of a European Collector'), London, Christie's, 7 July 2004, lot 98 (as Bellotto); private collection, by 2008; with Cesare Lampronti Gallery, London, by 2009 (as Bellotto); purchased privately from Hampel, Munich, by the current collector in 2019.

Exhibitions: Gorizia, Palazzo della Torre, Le Meraviglie di Venezia, Dipinti del '700 in collezioni private, 14 marzo-27 luglio 2008, n° 92; Foligno, Palazzo Trinci, Giuseppe Piermarini, tra barocco e neoclassico, Roma, Napoli, Caserta, Foligno, 5 giugno-2 ottobre 2010, n° B2.22; Monaco, Alte Pinakothek, Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto Paints Europe, 17 ottobre 2014-15 gennaio 2015, n° 21

Literature: W.G. Constable, Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768, J.G. Links (a cura di), Oxford 1976, vol. I, n° 388*, riprodotto in pl. 206, e vol. II, pp. 393–94, n° 388* (come Canaletto); W.G. Constable, Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697–1768, J.G. Links (a cura di), Oxford 1989, vol. I, n° 388*, riprodotto in pl. 206, e vol. II, pp. 393–94, n° 388* (come Canaletto); J.G. Links, A Supplement to W.G. Constable's Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697–1768, Londra 1998, p. 38, n° 388* (come Canaletto); C. Beddington, in Bernardo Bellotto and the Capitals of Europe, E.P. Bowron (a cura di), cat. mostra, Venezia e Houston 2001, pp. 112 e 114 n° 7, sotto il n° 26; B.A. Kowalczyk, in Bernardo Bellotto and the Capitals of Europe, E.P. Bowron (a cura di), cat. mostra, Venezia e Houston 2001, pp. 136 e 138 n° 13, sotto il n° 35, riprodotto a p. 136; D. Succi, in Le Meraviglie di Venezia, Dipinti del ’700 in collezioni private, D. Succi e A. Delneri (a cura di), cat. mostra, Gorizia 2008, pp. 264–65, n° 92, riprodotto a colori (come Bellotto); M. Fagiolo, in Giuseppe Piermarini, tra barocco e neoclassico, Roma, Napoli, Caserta, Foligno, M. Fagiolo e M. Tabarrini (a cura di), cat. mostra, Foligno 2010, pp. 52 e 55, riprodotto a colori fig. 10; C. Lollobrigida, in Giuseppe Piermarini, tra barocco e neoclassico, Roma, Napoli, Caserta, Foligno, M. Fagiolo e M. Tabarrini (a cura di), cat. mostra, Foligno 2010, pp. 190, 300 e 301, n° B2.22, un dettaglio riprodotto a colori p. 190; T. Wagner, in Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto Paints Europe, A. Schumacher (a cura di), cat. mostra, Monaco 2014, pp. 192–93, n° 21, riprodotto a colori; B.A. Kowalczyk, in Bellotto and Canaletto. Wonder and Light, B.A. Kowalczyk (a cura di), cat. mostra, Milano 2016-2017, p. 150, sotto il n° 46; B.A. Kowalczyk, in Canaletto 1697–1768, B.A. Kowalczyk (a cura di), cat. mostra, Roma 2018, p. 150, sotto il n° 39.

Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Venice, 1697-1768), Capriccio of the Prisons of San Marco, circa 1744. Oil on canvas, 105.5 x 127.5 cm. © DYS44 Lampronti Gallery

Provenance: Venice, Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana, commissioned by Joseph Consul Smith (circa 1674-1770); London, King George III, 1762; Dr. Grant David Yeats (1773–1836); London, Christie’s, 8 April 1815, lot 95; London, Christie’s, 13 January 1816, lot 57; London, the Earl of Annaly; Liverpool, John H. Paris, 15 & 17 Leece Street, early 20th century; Ireland, C.B. Ponsonby; New York, Koetser-Lilienfeld Galleries, 1948; Comte de Messay, London, Edward Speelman; London, Partridge Gallery, 1957; New York, Schaeffer Galleries, until 1964; Hans S. Schaeffer

Literature: J. Smith, Manuscript Catalogue of his Paintings bought by George III (Windsor), among n° 85-97; 'Note apart', n° 9 'The Publick Prison at St. Mark's'; W.G. Constable, Canaletto, Oxford, 1962, I, pl. 68; II, p. 356, n° 374; M. Levey, The Later Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 1964, p. 35, fig. XII; T.J. McCormick, 'The Canaletto Exhibition in Canada', The Burlington Magazine, CVII, No. 742, January 1965, p. 29, fig. 34; L. Puppi, L'opera completa del Canaletto, Milan, 1968, no. 227, repr.; F. Vivian, Il Console Smith mercante e collezionista, Vicenza, 1971, p. 197; W.G. Constable, Canaletto, 2nd ed. revised by J.G. Links, Oxford, 1976, I, pl. 68; II, pp. 382, n° 374, 433, under n° 451, and 439, under n° 460; W.L. Barcham, The Imaginary View Scenes of Antonio Canaletto, New York/London, 1977, pp. 157-158 and 161, fig. 153; O. Millar, catalogue of the exhibition Canaletto. Paintings & Drawings, The Queen's Gallery, London, 1980-1981, p. 68, note 1; J.G. Links, Canaletto. The Complete Paintings, London, 1981, n° 186, repr.; A. Corboz, Canaletto. Una Venezia immaginaria, Milan, 1985, I, p. 333, fig. 399; II, p. 604, n° p. 123, repr.; W.G. Constable, Canaletto, 2nd ed. revised by J.G. Links reissued with supplement and additional plates, Oxford, 1989, I, pp. lv-lvi, pl. 68; II, pp. 382, n° 374, 433, under n° 451, 439, under n° 460, and 737; M. Levey, The Later Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, 2nd ed., Cambridge, 1991, p. 43, under n° 408, fig. 13; The Splendours of Venice. View paintings from the Eighteenth Century, exh. cat. ed. by. V. Rossi and A. Hilliam, Lampronti Gallery London, December 1st-24th, 2014, Rome 2014, cat. 1 pp. 6-9; C. Beddington in Da Artemisia a Hackert. La collezione di un antiquario, exh. catalogue, Reggia di Caserta, Foligno 2019, cat. 49 pp. 106-107

Exhibitions: Louisville, Kentucky, The J.B. Speed Art Museum, Eighteenth Century Venetian Painting, 1948; Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, 17 October-15 November 1964; Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Canaletto, 4 December 1964-10 January 1965; Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts, Canaletto, 29 January-28 February 1965; Da Artemisia a Hackert. La collezione di un antiquario, Reggia di Caserta, 16 September-16 January 2020.

Note: Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto, was born in 1697 and became a renowned Italian painter celebrated for his stunning depictions of Venetian landscapes and cityscapes. He gained popularity for his vedute - detailed and picturesque representations of city views - and capricci - imaginative architectural compositions that blended reality with fantasy. His work particularly resonated with British aristocrats on their grand tours of Venice.

This extraordinary capriccio features the Public Prisons of San Marco, one of the most prominent structures on the Venetian Molo, adjacent to the Doge's Palace and connected by the iconic Bridge of Sighs. This painting has the most distinguished provenance a painting by Canaletto can have. It was painted for the artist's great patron and agent Joseph Consul Smith, being part of a series of thirteen canvases, presumably intended as overdoors to decorate the Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana, Smith's house on the Grand Canal just above the Rialto Bridge. In 1762, Smith sold the cream of his collection to King George III of England, including this painting.

BRAFA 2025, 26 January - 02 February 2025