View of Frascati, 1780

Details

Jean Grandjean (Amsterdam 1755-1781 Rome)
View of Frascati, 1780
signed, dated and inscribed with a key 'Vue des 1Capucins et du 2Nove... a Frascati une partie de la 3ville et les 4Campagnes du Cote de Tivoli. Jean Grandjean ad. viv fec Ao 1780.' (verso)
black chalk, pen and grey ink, grey wash, pen and brown ink framing lines, watermark Strasburg lily
10½ x 16 in. (267 x 408 mm.)

Provenance

An unidentified collector's number 'No 4.'.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, 16 March 1927 (to Meatyard).
Purchased from Meatyard, 24 March 1927 (6s.).

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

In 1772, after apprenticeships under a topographical draughtsman and an enamellist, Grandjean entered the studio of Jurriaan Andriessen in Amsterdam. Andriessen's studio specialised in painting wall decorations and it was here that the artist was trained in landscape and figure painting. It was after he left this studio and with the help of several wealthy patrons that he decided to visit Italy to further his artistic skills. On 2 June 1779 he sailed for Rome. On arrival in Italy his artistic style rapidly transformed from traditional draughtsmanship to a more mature neo-Classicism, and this was reflected in the 60 or 70 landscape and figure studies that he sent back to his native Holland.
Grandjean died in Rome of influenza, barely two years after his arrival in Italy.

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