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Abraham Brueghel (Antwerp 1631-1697 Naples) and Nicola Malinconico (Naples 1663-1721)

Silenus, with centaurs, leopards and a barrel of fruit in an extensive river landscape

Details

Abraham Brueghel (Antwerp 1631-1697 Naples) and Nicola Malinconico (Naples 1663-1721)
Silenus, with centaurs, leopards and a barrel of fruit in an extensive river landscape
signed 'A.Brughel' (lower right)
oil on canvas
29½ x 39¼ in. (75 x 99.7 cm.)

Literature

L. Ravelli, 'Un pittore partenopeo a Bergamo: Nicola Malinconico e le sue 'Historiae Sacrae' per Santa Maria Maggiore', Atti dell'Ateneo di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, XLVIII, 1987-8, pp. 11 and 49-50, figs. 7-8. L. Salerno, Nuovi studi sulla natura morta italiana, Rome, 1989, pp. 84-5, fig. 76 (with reversed image).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The first to recognise Malinconico as responsible for the figures in this painting was Lanfranco Ravelli (op. cit.) in his groundbreaking article which explored the activity of the artist as a painter of still lifes. He dated the painting to circa 1683, when Nicola would have been 20 years old and Brueghel settled in Naples for a few years. In a letter to the owner after the publication of his aforementioned book, Professor Luigi Salerno confirmed the figures in this picture to by Nicola Malinconico, describing the work as an 'opera bellissima'.

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