Offered by Antichità Castelbarco
Giovanni Grevenbroeck, called the Solfarolo (Netherlands, c. 1650 - Milan, post 1699)
Port View in Moonlight
Oil on canvas
70 x 132 cm
Framed 86 x 146 cm
Critical apparatus: Expertise by Emilio Negro.
We are pleased to present this pleasing nocturnal coastal view illuminated by the cold light of the moon, and set in a fantastic harbour with an almost surreal atmosphere, made fascinating by the use of almost monochrome hues with characteristic predominantly brown tones softened by golden reflections.
The marina is organised on the skilful juxtaposition of realistic data with others of pure fantasy, and is therefore characterised by steep heights, imaginary constructions, numerous boats and the presence of many characters engaged in their activities. This compositional choice echoes the works of the many northern European artists active in Italy during the 17th century - from Pieter Mulier (the Cavalier Tempesta) to Adriaen van der Cabel to name but a couple - who spread an alternative to classicist Vedutism, juxtaposing the realist vision with details from their imagination.
All of these elements - together with the unmistakable clouds with their typical atmospheric, chromatic and luministic values - allow us to link our painting to the pictorial corpus of Giovanni Grevenbroeck (Netherlands, c. 1650 - Milan, post 1699), the progenitor of the family of painters from the Netherlands.
The painting expresses all the stylistic and pictorial characteristics of his works, in one of the favourite subjects of his famous workshop: the scene set in a fantasy harbour is the most typical of his repertoire, always somewhere between figurative description and caprice.
After his apprenticeship in Flanders, Giovanni Grevenbroeck came to Italy, specifically to Rome, receiving numerous commissions from the great noble families, such as the Colonna. However, his stay in Rome was a brief interlude in his career, which was to take place largely in Milan, from 1672 onwards, where he spent much of his life painting landscapes and seascapes at dawn and dusk to great success, reported in the inventories of the most important local picture galleries of the time.
His numerous compositions evoke, as is also the case in the canvas under examination, the qualities of 17th-century Roman landscape painting, enlivened by both the northern European examples of Claude Lorrain and the central Italian ones in the style of Salvator Rosa, with the particularity of rendering his port views as flamboyant vedute that entrust the luministic component with the task of highlighting naturalistic details with its typical atmospheric intonations.
To convince oneself of the attribution, one only needs to compare the canvas with the majority of his body of paintings, in particular the seascapes at dawn and sunset from Chateauroux (Musée Bertrand) or, even more so, the Seaports of Alençon (Musée des Beaux-arts et de la Dentelle), works sometimes attributed to one or other of his sons, but which can be traced back to Giovanni thanks to more recent studies of the prolific work of this active family of 17th-century vedutists.
Delevery information :
We take care of and organise the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.
We take great care We personally take care of the packaging, to which we devote a great deal of care: each work is carefully packed, first with arti- cle material, then with a custom-made wooden box.
Should you have the desire to see this or other works in person, we would be happy to welcome you to our gallery in Riva del Garda, Viale Giuseppe Canella 18, we are always open by appointment only.
