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Lot Essay
The attribution of this previously unpublished picture to Biscaino was advanced by Dr. Anna Orlando, after inspection in the original. The attribution has also been confirmed by Dr. Mary Newcome Schleier on the basis of a transparency.
It depicts the moment when the Roman general, Coriolanus, having been banished from Rome, returns to besiege the city with the help of his erstwhile enemies, the Volsci. He was met outside the city by his wife, Volumnia, his mother, Veturia and his two young sons who successfully pleaded with him to call off the planned assault. On returning to the Volsci, Coriolanus was put to death as a traitor. Biscaino depicts the general, in full military dress, turning away from the city about to led the retreat of his army. The Castel Sant'Angelo, and the walls of Rome are clearly visible on the horizon. On the right the group led by Volumnia pleads with him to spare the city and its population on behalf of his two elegantly dressed sons, who seem oblivious to the highly charged, emotional encounter.
Biscaino was one of the most gifted of seicento Genoese painters, yet his life was cut short by an outbreak of plague at the age of twenty-eight. It has been difficult to construct a chronology for his work, given his short life, but the present picture is without doubt an important addition to his oeuvre. Trained initially by his father, Giovanni Andrea Biscaino, a landscape painter of limited ambition, he later entered the workshop of Valerio Castello, one of the leading Baroque painters in Genoa, whose lively and dramatic style transformed his early works.
This picture also reveals the impact that Van Dyck had on Genoese art of the seventeenth century. Van Dyck travelled widely throughout Italy from 1621-7, but Genoa was the place to which he repeatedly returned, as Bellori remarked, 'Trascorrendo in altre parti d'Italia, sempre si riparava in Genova non altrimente che nella sua patria, dove era amato e riputato da ciascuno' (Le vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti moderni, 1672, reprinted Rome, 1931, p. 225). He was fortunate to arrive in Genoa at the height of its prestige as a Republic, and he painted some of his most important portraits for its prosperous citizens. The native Genoese artists were quick to learn from his example, and several passages in the present picture recall Van Dyck's work during his stay in the city.
The white horse at the far left of the painting is almost a direct quotation from Van Dyck's celebrated Equestrian Portrait of Anton Giulio Brignole-Sale, of 1627 (Galleria di Palazzo Rosso, Genoa, see fig. 1), with its flowing mane and raised right leg. Van Dyck also made a sketch for the horse, which Biscaino may have seen (private collection, see S.J. Barnes, et al., Van Dyck. A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London, 2004, no. II.34, p. 180). A similar horse's head appears in two other works by Biscaino, The Adoration of the Magi (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg), and the Vision of Saint Hubert (private collection, Genoa, see C. Manzitti, 'Per Bartolomeo Biscaino', Paragone, 253, 1971, pp. 42-3, fig. 37).
The children on the right of the picture also bear a striking resemblance to Van Dyck's younger sitters of this period, both in their general pose as well as their elaborate costume. They could be inspired by Van Dyck's depiction of children in various works, such as Group Portrait of the Lomellini Family (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, S.J. Barnes, op. cit., no. II.49, pp. 192-3); Three children of the De Franchi (?) Family (National Gallery, London, ibid., no. II.42, p. 186); and Portrait of a boy from the Doria (?) Family (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, ibid., no. II.40, p. 185). The individual character of the children in Biscaino's picture, and the fact that their contemporary dress is far more elaborate than that of the surrounding figures, suggest that they are actual portraits, and probably depict the children of the patron who commissioned the work.
It depicts the moment when the Roman general, Coriolanus, having been banished from Rome, returns to besiege the city with the help of his erstwhile enemies, the Volsci. He was met outside the city by his wife, Volumnia, his mother, Veturia and his two young sons who successfully pleaded with him to call off the planned assault. On returning to the Volsci, Coriolanus was put to death as a traitor. Biscaino depicts the general, in full military dress, turning away from the city about to led the retreat of his army. The Castel Sant'Angelo, and the walls of Rome are clearly visible on the horizon. On the right the group led by Volumnia pleads with him to spare the city and its population on behalf of his two elegantly dressed sons, who seem oblivious to the highly charged, emotional encounter.
Biscaino was one of the most gifted of seicento Genoese painters, yet his life was cut short by an outbreak of plague at the age of twenty-eight. It has been difficult to construct a chronology for his work, given his short life, but the present picture is without doubt an important addition to his oeuvre. Trained initially by his father, Giovanni Andrea Biscaino, a landscape painter of limited ambition, he later entered the workshop of Valerio Castello, one of the leading Baroque painters in Genoa, whose lively and dramatic style transformed his early works.
This picture also reveals the impact that Van Dyck had on Genoese art of the seventeenth century. Van Dyck travelled widely throughout Italy from 1621-7, but Genoa was the place to which he repeatedly returned, as Bellori remarked, 'Trascorrendo in altre parti d'Italia, sempre si riparava in Genova non altrimente che nella sua patria, dove era amato e riputato da ciascuno' (Le vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti moderni, 1672, reprinted Rome, 1931, p. 225). He was fortunate to arrive in Genoa at the height of its prestige as a Republic, and he painted some of his most important portraits for its prosperous citizens. The native Genoese artists were quick to learn from his example, and several passages in the present picture recall Van Dyck's work during his stay in the city.
The white horse at the far left of the painting is almost a direct quotation from Van Dyck's celebrated Equestrian Portrait of Anton Giulio Brignole-Sale, of 1627 (Galleria di Palazzo Rosso, Genoa, see fig. 1), with its flowing mane and raised right leg. Van Dyck also made a sketch for the horse, which Biscaino may have seen (private collection, see S.J. Barnes, et al., Van Dyck. A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London, 2004, no. II.34, p. 180). A similar horse's head appears in two other works by Biscaino, The Adoration of the Magi (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg), and the Vision of Saint Hubert (private collection, Genoa, see C. Manzitti, 'Per Bartolomeo Biscaino', Paragone, 253, 1971, pp. 42-3, fig. 37).
The children on the right of the picture also bear a striking resemblance to Van Dyck's younger sitters of this period, both in their general pose as well as their elaborate costume. They could be inspired by Van Dyck's depiction of children in various works, such as Group Portrait of the Lomellini Family (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, S.J. Barnes, op. cit., no. II.49, pp. 192-3); Three children of the De Franchi (?) Family (National Gallery, London, ibid., no. II.42, p. 186); and Portrait of a boy from the Doria (?) Family (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, ibid., no. II.40, p. 185). The individual character of the children in Biscaino's picture, and the fact that their contemporary dress is far more elaborate than that of the surrounding figures, suggest that they are actual portraits, and probably depict the children of the patron who commissioned the work.