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Lot Essay
Both this picture and its pendant (sold Anoymous sale [The Property of a Noblewoman]; Sotheby's, London, 8 July 1992, lot 85) share the same provenance. They entered Field Marshal Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg's collection as part of his first en bloc purchase, a group of 88 paintings, 2 drawings and a bas-relief, all from the collection of the Dukes of Mantua, which he bought from the dealer Giovanni Battista Rota in Venice in 1724 for 7,233 ducats (see Binion op. cit.). They are listed in the inventory of the purchase: '2 Battaglie piene di figure di Cornelio de Wal' (Hanover, Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv, Dep. 82, Abt III, No. 19).
Schulenburg was the extraordinarly successful German military commander who headed the Saxon armies of Augustus II, King of Poland, before being invited by the Venetian Republic in 1715 to become Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of its armies in the war against the Turks. The present picture, as noted above, was part of his first recorded purchase at the age of sixty-three in 1724 from Giovanni Battista Rota in Venice. He subsequently became one of the most energetic patrons and collectors of his day, keeping his collection in his Venentian residence, Palazzo Loredan. Self-taught in matters of connoisseurship, he increasingly relied upon the advice of contemporary artists, in particular Giambattista Pittoni (who was his favourite restorer) and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. This singularly well-documented collection comprised some 957 items by 1747, with battle scenes inevitably forming a substantial component. Particularly well-represented was the Venetian Rococo, with works by Piazetta, Pittoni, Sebastiano and Marco Ricci, as well as Bellotto, Canaletto, Marieschi, Carlevaris.
Schulenburg was the extraordinarly successful German military commander who headed the Saxon armies of Augustus II, King of Poland, before being invited by the Venetian Republic in 1715 to become Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of its armies in the war against the Turks. The present picture, as noted above, was part of his first recorded purchase at the age of sixty-three in 1724 from Giovanni Battista Rota in Venice. He subsequently became one of the most energetic patrons and collectors of his day, keeping his collection in his Venentian residence, Palazzo Loredan. Self-taught in matters of connoisseurship, he increasingly relied upon the advice of contemporary artists, in particular Giambattista Pittoni (who was his favourite restorer) and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. This singularly well-documented collection comprised some 957 items by 1747, with battle scenes inevitably forming a substantial component. Particularly well-represented was the Venetian Rococo, with works by Piazetta, Pittoni, Sebastiano and Marco Ricci, as well as Bellotto, Canaletto, Marieschi, Carlevaris.