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Lot Essay
This Capriccio of the Port of Livorno exemplifies Lingelbach’s mastery of imagined view, blending architectural and maritime elements to create a compelling narrative. The ship docked in the harbor, with its billowing sails and intricate rigging, evokes the vibrancy of Livorno’s mercantile activities. In the foreground, groups of animated figures convincingly populate the scene. Lingelbach’s attention to detail extends to the architectural elements framing the port, where recognizable landmarks like the Monumento dei Quattro Mori and the Fortezza Vecchia are set against imaginative constructions. For its profusion of meticulously rendered detail and sheer grandeur, the present painting can be regarded as exceptional within Lingelbach's oeuvre.
The Tuscan port city of Livorno (known to English-speaking travelers as Leghorn) was transformed into a bustling hub of commerce and culture under the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Following its designation as a free port in the late 1580s by Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Livorno attracted merchants, sailors, and travelers from across the Mediterranean. By the mid-seventeenth century, Livorno’s harbor had not only become a center of Mediterranean trade but also the site of the Battle of Leghorn in 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War. In this engagement, a Dutch fleet under Commodore Johan van Galen defeated an English squadron, temporarily securing Dutch control of Mediterranean trade routes.
The painting's central focus, the Monumento dei Quattro Mori—commissioned in 1595 by Ferdinando I from Giovanni Bandini, with additions completed by Pietro Tacca between 1623 and 1626—celebrates the Medici naval victories over Ottoman forces. The striking figures of four enslaved Ottoman men, modeled on actual captured galley slaves like Morgiano of Algiers and Alì Salettino of Morocco, were intended to commemorate the Medici navy’s successes and symbolize Livorno’s strategic dominance in the Mediterranean (the names of these figures are known through contemporary documents; L. Lo Basso, 'The Quattro Mori monument: symbol of the trade of enslaved people and the enslavement in the Maritime Republics', Manifest, 2024).
Lingelbach departs from a faithful depiction of the monument, instead integrating elements inspired by Bernini. A similar sculpture appears in several of his other capricci, including View of Rome with the Castel Sant'Angelo (Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston), Italian Seaport (Dulwich Picture Gallery, London), and another seaport (sold at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16 March 1976, lot 13).
Born in Frankfurt, Johannes Lingelbach moved to Holland at an early age with his family and had settled in Amsterdam by 1634. According to Houbraken, he left for France in 1642 and went on to Italy two years later. He is first recorded in Rome in 1647, living on Strada Paolina delli Greci, and again in 1649 on the nearby Horto di Napoli. Although Lingelbach's early output is not well understood due to the absence of dated works before 1650, it is evident that during his time in Rome he quickly associated with the Bamboccianti and was heavily influenced by their street-life genre painting. Houbraken recorded that Lingelbach left Rome on 8 May 1650 and returned to Amsterdam in 1653.
The Tuscan port city of Livorno (known to English-speaking travelers as Leghorn) was transformed into a bustling hub of commerce and culture under the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Following its designation as a free port in the late 1580s by Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Livorno attracted merchants, sailors, and travelers from across the Mediterranean. By the mid-seventeenth century, Livorno’s harbor had not only become a center of Mediterranean trade but also the site of the Battle of Leghorn in 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War. In this engagement, a Dutch fleet under Commodore Johan van Galen defeated an English squadron, temporarily securing Dutch control of Mediterranean trade routes.
The painting's central focus, the Monumento dei Quattro Mori—commissioned in 1595 by Ferdinando I from Giovanni Bandini, with additions completed by Pietro Tacca between 1623 and 1626—celebrates the Medici naval victories over Ottoman forces. The striking figures of four enslaved Ottoman men, modeled on actual captured galley slaves like Morgiano of Algiers and Alì Salettino of Morocco, were intended to commemorate the Medici navy’s successes and symbolize Livorno’s strategic dominance in the Mediterranean (the names of these figures are known through contemporary documents; L. Lo Basso, 'The Quattro Mori monument: symbol of the trade of enslaved people and the enslavement in the Maritime Republics', Manifest, 2024).
Lingelbach departs from a faithful depiction of the monument, instead integrating elements inspired by Bernini. A similar sculpture appears in several of his other capricci, including View of Rome with the Castel Sant'Angelo (Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston), Italian Seaport (Dulwich Picture Gallery, London), and another seaport (sold at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16 March 1976, lot 13).
Born in Frankfurt, Johannes Lingelbach moved to Holland at an early age with his family and had settled in Amsterdam by 1634. According to Houbraken, he left for France in 1642 and went on to Italy two years later. He is first recorded in Rome in 1647, living on Strada Paolina delli Greci, and again in 1649 on the nearby Horto di Napoli. Although Lingelbach's early output is not well understood due to the absence of dated works before 1650, it is evident that during his time in Rome he quickly associated with the Bamboccianti and was heavily influenced by their street-life genre painting. Houbraken recorded that Lingelbach left Rome on 8 May 1650 and returned to Amsterdam in 1653.