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Lot Essay
The attribution of this fascinating painting remains elusive, although scholars are in agreement that it is the work of an accomplished late mannerist master, and can be dated to the 1580s. The monumental scale of this grisaille is particularly unusual.
Rome is certainly a good starting point when considering the authorship of this magnificent picture. The Eternal City was an important centre for artistic commissions during the time of Popes Gregory XIII Boncompagni, Sistus V Peretti and Clemens VIII Aldobrandini: individual works as well as vast decorative schemes were executed by the most significant artists of the day under the patronge of the Church and of the most illustrious Roman Princely families. The names of Raffaellino da Reggio, active in the Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola and in various Roman churches, and of Cristoforo Roncalli, il Pomarancio, have been tentatively proposed in relation to this picture. It is equally possible that the artist was active in Lombardy, in the orbit of the Cremonese mannerist painter Giovanni Battista Trotti, il Malosso.
The complexity of the artistic influences evident in this painting does not exclude that the anonymous master could also be identified with one of the numerous Flemish artists active in Italy in the last quarter of the 16th century. Painters such as Joos van Winghe, Aert Mijtens, Hans Speckaert have all been mentioned in relation of this work, and the landscape with ruins emerging on the left side of the painting somehow recalls Matthijs and Paul Bril's frescoes in and around Rome. An attribution to Pieter Isaacsz. has also been proposed.
Such was the cross-fertilisation of the artistic language of the time, with artists travelling between the major courts of Europe, that the Imperial city of Prague should also be taken into consideration, since numerous artists were attracted to the court under the patronage of the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II. The leading exponents of this centre of artistic production were Bartholomäus Spranger and Hans von Aachen.
Rome is certainly a good starting point when considering the authorship of this magnificent picture. The Eternal City was an important centre for artistic commissions during the time of Popes Gregory XIII Boncompagni, Sistus V Peretti and Clemens VIII Aldobrandini: individual works as well as vast decorative schemes were executed by the most significant artists of the day under the patronge of the Church and of the most illustrious Roman Princely families. The names of Raffaellino da Reggio, active in the Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola and in various Roman churches, and of Cristoforo Roncalli, il Pomarancio, have been tentatively proposed in relation to this picture. It is equally possible that the artist was active in Lombardy, in the orbit of the Cremonese mannerist painter Giovanni Battista Trotti, il Malosso.
The complexity of the artistic influences evident in this painting does not exclude that the anonymous master could also be identified with one of the numerous Flemish artists active in Italy in the last quarter of the 16th century. Painters such as Joos van Winghe, Aert Mijtens, Hans Speckaert have all been mentioned in relation of this work, and the landscape with ruins emerging on the left side of the painting somehow recalls Matthijs and Paul Bril's frescoes in and around Rome. An attribution to Pieter Isaacsz. has also been proposed.
Such was the cross-fertilisation of the artistic language of the time, with artists travelling between the major courts of Europe, that the Imperial city of Prague should also be taken into consideration, since numerous artists were attracted to the court under the patronage of the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II. The leading exponents of this centre of artistic production were Bartholomäus Spranger and Hans von Aachen.