Oil Landscape Paintings

Painted in collaboration with Hendrick van Balen (Antwerp, 1575 – 1632). Provenance: Private Collection, Uruguay, since the 1930s. The eldest son of Jan Br...

Charles Martin Powell (Chichester 1775-1824) Dutch shipping in a choppy sea Signed 'CPowell' lower right Oil on canvas Canvas Size - 16 x 19 in Framed Size - 24 x 26 in Provenance: The Parker Gallery...

Venice - Mario De Angeli - Italia 2009 - Oil on canvas cm. 80x120. Gold leaf gilded wooden frame ext. mis. cm.100x140 Mario De Angeli's canvas is an extraordinary work of Italian l...

Artist: Francis Swaine (English, 1725-1782) Title: "Dutch Fishing Vessels in Storm" *No signature found Circa: 1770 Medium: Original Oil Painting on wood panel Framing: Framed in a Louis XV style gold moulding Framed size: 10.63" x 12.63" Panel size (irregular margins): 6" x 7.75" Condition: One small restored spot upper left. Cosmetic wear to frame. In otherwise very good condition Notes: Provenance: private collection - London, England; acquired from art dealer Ernest Alden, London, England retaining his original gallery label on verso. Metal plaque inscribed "F. Swaine 1740-1782", (active dates), attached to frame bottom center. Ernest William Alden (1866-1947) was recorded in successive censuses, in 1881 as a picture mounter (card maker), age 14, living at 9 Bloomsbury St, with several other members of his family also given as picture mounters, including his father, James; in 1891 as a picture frame mounter with his father and family at 208 Shaftesbury Avenue; in 1901 as a photographer and picture dealer at 39 King’s Road, Chelsea; and in 1911 again at 39 King’s Road but the census form is damaged. His listing in trade directories, initially as picture mount cutter, changed to picture framemaker from 1904, soon after he set up in the King’s Road. He advertised his large stock of second-hand swept and other frames, claiming to have been established in 1893 (The Year’s Art 1913). Alden died in Chelsea in 1947, leaving effects worth £5,011, with probate granted to his widow Lily Alden and to Marjorie Frances Alden. Two of his younger brothers, Henry Cyril Alden (1871-1939) and James Preston Alden (1876-1960), were also active as picture framemakers. - National Portrait Gallery, London, England. Biography: Francis Swaine (1725–1782) was a British marine painter. He was born in 1725, and christened on 7 October of that year at St Dunstan's, Stepney, London. His parents were named Francis Swaine and Ann Joel. In 1735 the elder Francis Swaine, the marine painter's father, applied in writing to the Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy for employment as a Navy Messenger, in succession to Mr William Wyatt. He mentions that he had served "upwards of twenty eight years" in the Navy, and that his father had died Purser of the Royal Katherine. He mentions also that he had carried out "little labours in drawing", and that he at that time had five small children. The first-born of these children was the Francis Swaine who became the marine painter. The elder Swaine was duly employed as a Navy Messenger. He served for 20 years and died on 10 October 1755, aged 64. Swaine is said to have been influenced by the style of Van de Velde. There is no clear evidence of this alleged influence. The suggestion that Swaine may have been a pupil of Charles Brooking...

European School, 19th century View of boats on water and buildings oil on board, framed framed: 16 x 22 inches board: 11.5 x 17.5 inches private collecti...

Nicola Viso (active in Naples in the first half of the 18th century) Architectural capriccio with temple in ruins and scene of the rest of the Holy Family ...

Classical Landscape Continental School, late 20th century signed oil on canvas, framed framed: 34 x 43 inches canvas: 27 x 34 inches provenance: fr...

A Pair of Forest Landscapes with River and Boat in the Foreground Brinckmann Philipp Hieronymus Spire 1709 – 1761 Manheim Old Master Signature: Signed "Ph. Brinckm" bottom lower lef...

Depicting a peacock, a pheasant, a turkey and various other birds in a whimsical highland scene. Bearing an indistinct signature, In a later, egg and dart moulded giltwood frame. 59c...

Ippolito Scarsella, known as Lo Scarsellino (Ferrara, around 1550 - 1620) workshop Altarpiece depicting the Madonna and Child, St. James the Greater and the donor in armour Technique: oil on panel Measurements: 93 x 72 cm./with frame 109 x 86 cm. Provenance: Prato, Farsetti, auction of 28.10.2016, lot 261 (link) A majestic Madonna in Glory occupies the upper register of the canvas, seated on a blanket of iridescent clouds surrounded by angels, flanked by a cherub who scatters flowers contained in a cornucopia towards the infant Christ as a sign of abundance, naked and supported with both hands from the mother. In the lower part of the composition stands the figure of San Giacomo Maggiore, one of the twelve apostles, standing on the right side of the altarpiece, represented dressed in a humble tunic; one arm holds the open Gospel book, while the other holds a cross pilgrimage staff. A particular aspect of the table is the presence in the central part, to indicate its importance, of the figure of the donor, kneeling on a cushion, with his hands joined in prayer and his face observing the Virgin in an attitude of devotion, while on the opposite lectern is placed a prayer book; depicted with the features of a young leader in armor, with a sword and a rich iridescent red cloak, elements which, combined with his authoritarian composure, enhance his ennoblement. Unlike the medieval altarpieces, the knight is here included in the space of the painting and has proportionate dimensions to those of the other characters, returning to all intents and purposes in the sacred scene, with a pose that cannot but evoke the detail of the 'Montefeltro altarpiece' made by Piero della Francesca for Federico da Montefeltro, kneeling in front of the sacred group in the guise of a leader. On the right, the view recedes into depth highlighting the background of an urban landscape set on a hill behind which a mountain range stands out, with the peculiarity of the arched aqueduct that runs along the entire landscape. Presumably among these expanses were the donor's own possessions and his hometown. It is a quality table, imbued with the late Mannerist style still resistant in the second half of the 16th century, characterized by a 'sweet and affable religiosity, rendered through a manner of studied simplicity and grace', which highlights the unmistakable stylistic and chromatic connotations of the produced...

Benjamin Barker of Bath (Pontypool 1776-1838) A wooded river landscape with drovers Signed and dated 'B.Barker pinxt/ 1807' lower right Oil on canvas 46 x 68 3/4 in (116.8 x 174.5 cm...

Flemish School, 1600s Landscape With Pan and Syrinx painted around the 1600s oil on copper 19 x 23.5 cm frame 29 x 34 cm Hand-made oak frame by Swedish frame maker Christer Björkma...

European painter (18th-19th century) - The arrival of the merchants by ship. 48 x 66 cm without frame, 53 x 71 cm with frame. Oil on canvas, in carved and gilded wooden frame. Con...

Italianate landscape garden with classical ornament, including Giambologna's Sabine women and a classical urn, view to a bay beyond Coplestone War...

Naval Shipping in Stormy Seas English School, 18th century circle of Charles Brooking, (1723-1759) oil painting on canvas: 16.5 x 21.5 inches Morland ...

Flemish painter of the 18th century - Follower of Jan van der Meer, called Vermeer d'Utrecht (Schoonhoven, verses 1630 - 1692) Courtship scene at the entrance of an inn oil on canvas, 70 x 62 cm. (with frame 80 x 72 cm.) This pleasant genre scene, depicting a young innkeeper conversing amiably with a gentleman as she prepares to serve him wine in a glass goblet that she still holds in her hand, is inspired by the painting made in 1653 by the Dutch painter Jan van der Meer, known as Vermeer d'Utrecht, and today kept in Paris at the Louvre Museum. Set outside an inn or a post station, the scene illustrates the theme of seduction, with the young waitress being courted by the client, a charming traveler with a changing red cloak, who tries to charm her. Yes, it is a work that harmoniously combines the painter's Dutch origins, with the stylistic characters learned during his training in his homeland, with the Italian-like characters learned during his trip to Italy around 1655. In Rome, in particular, he met and collaborated with various authors of the Bamboccianti school, first of all Jan Miel...

Work on canvas

Benjamin Killingbeck (act. 1769-1783) A dark bay racehorse held by his trainer on a racecourse Oil on canvas Canvas Size - 40 x 50 in Framed Size ...

Roman school of the seventeenth century Giovanni Lanfranco (Terenzo, 1582 - Rome, 1647) circle The ascent to Calvary (Christ falls under the cross) Oi...

View on the Cannaregio Canal, Venice Italian School, 19th century, after Francesco Guardi, Italian 1712-1793 oil on panel Painting: 8 x 10 inches condition: overall very sound, with ...

Landscape with martyrdom of Saint Stephen is an old master artwork realized in 17th century. Mixed colored oil painting on canvas. Includes coeval gilded frame cm. 148x196. The artwork is attributed to Vincent Adriaenssen called il Manciola (Antwerp, 1595 - Roma, 1675) Among the painters who worked in the first half of the seventeenth century it is possible to indicate only the Neapolitan Scipione Compagno (1624-1680) as the author of scenes of martyrs set within a landscape or a view such as, for example, the Martyrdom of Saint Stefano recently hesitated at the Ansorena in Madrid on June 16, 2021. It should be noted, however, that the landscape represented in the painting examined here, characterized by luxuriant vegetation, meticulously represented "in the Flemish style", shows differences with the typical settings of the paintings di Compagno, characterized above all by urban views, visionary architectures or rather arid vegetation. Even the refined figures, so elongated and lanky, represented in our painting, in particular the group of knights in the foreground on the right, are not reflected in the production of the Neapolitan painter. These elements, to which we add the depiction of the Eternal Father amidst the clouds and the detail of the dog in profile in the foreground, instead recall a painter mainly known as a battle soldier, but who was also the author of many works depicting episodes from ancient Rome set within luxuriant landscapes, or rather Vincent Adriaenssen known as Manciola, a painter from Antwerp whose figure has been shed light thanks to recent studies. The group of horsemen represented to the right of the examined painting is, in fact, comparable with other groups on horseback present in numerous works by Manciola such as, for example, in the Triumph of Caesar (Rome, Babuino, 23-03-2010; formerly Florence, Collection Privata, 2006), while similar elongated and somewhat lanky figures, dressed in red, yellow, blue and white, can be found in the three paintings conserved at the Cassa di Risparmio di Pesaro, which in the past were erroneously attributed to the Umbrian painter Francesco Allegrini...

Claude Vignon (Tours, 1593 - Paris, 1670) The Fortune Teller Oil painting on canvas (65 x 84 cm. - In frame 94 x 113 cm.) The work is accompanied by a critical study drawn up by prof. Emilio Negro (Bologna) The subject immortalized in this intriguing painting, called 'Good luck', is a scene of everyday life that we would have seen frequently in the crowded streets of central Rome at the time. The protagonists of the canvas are a young fortune teller and a well-dressed nobleman who lets himself be predicted by reading the hand. The gentleman, who listens curiously to the response and with a hint of malice holds his gold necklace in his hands, is in the meantime robbed by an accomplice of the woman, intent on taking the purse out of his pocket. Although this type of paintings were intended for the decoration of the residences of the Roman aristocrats, who with a hint of self-irony saw themselves in the figure of the unfortunate grullo, were actually harbingers of moralizing messages. Among the many proposals there was certainly the warning towards the desire to know one's destiny without respecting the priority of the divine will that determines it, relying for this on cunning charlatans. It must be said that, although more than four centuries have passed and certain dynamics have naturally changed, this subject appears extremely current. Clearly inspired by the Buona Ventura painted by Caravaggio, the painting is part of that line of scenes taken from the painter's favorite street life and which, given the collector's fortune already at the time, were often reworked by many artists, considered a stimulating theme and full of psychological implications. In particular, the work in question is attributed to the French painter Claude Vignon (Tours 1593 - Paris 1670), presumably to be placed during his years spent in Rome, before his return to Paris, showing the artist's masterful interpretation of the work conceived by Caravaggio. After his training in Paris by Jacob Bunel, one of the most famous masters of the reign of Henry IV, he moved to Rome around 1609-1610, being part of that large community of French painters, including Simon Vouet and Valentin de Boulogne...

Jan Van der Straet, known as Giovanni Stradano (Bruges 1523 - Florence 1605), Workshop of The Adoration of the Magi late 16th century - early 17th century oil painting on canvas Mea...

Artist: Adriaen van Stalbemt (Stalbempt) 1580-1662 Title: Abraham and the Sacrifice of His Son Isaac “Das Opfer des Abraham” According to the Old...

The Great Fire of London in September 1666 was one of the greatest disasters in the city’s history. The City, with its wooden houses crowded together in narrow streets, was a natural fire risk, and predictions that London would burn down became a shocking reality. The fire began in a bakery in Pudding Lane, an area near the Thames teeming with warehouses and shops full of flammable materials, such as timber, oil, coal, pitch and turpentine. Inevitably the fire spread rapidly from this area into the City. Our painting depicts the impact of the fire on those who were caught in it and creates a very dramatic impression of what the fire was like. Closer inspection reveals a scene of chaos and panic with people running out of the gates. It shows Cripplegate in the north of the City, with St Giles without Cripplegate to its left, in flames (on the site of the present day Barbican). The painting probably represents the fire on the night of Tuesday 4 September, when four-fifths of the City was burning at once, including St Paul's Cathedral. Old St Paul’s can be seen to the right of the canvas, the medieval church with its thick stone walls, was considered a place of safety, but the building was covered in wooden scaffolding as it was in the midst of being restored by the then little known architect, Christopher Wren and caught fire. Our painting seems to depict a specific moment on the Tuesday night when the lead on St Paul’s caught fire and, as the diarist John Evelyn described: ‘the stones of Paul’s flew like grenades, the melting lead running down the streets in a stream and the very pavements glowing with the firey redness, so as no horse, nor man, was able to tread on them.’ Although the loss of life was minimal, some accounts record only sixteen perished, the magnitude of the property loss was shocking – some four hundred and thirty acres, about eighty per cent of the City proper was destroyed, including over thirteen thousand houses, eighty-nine churches, and fifty-two Guild Halls. Thousands were homeless and financially ruined. The Great Fire, and the subsequent fire of 1676, which destroyed over six hundred houses south of the Thames, changed the appearance of London forever. The one constructive outcome of the Great Fire was that the plague, which had devastated the population of London since 1665, diminished greatly, due to the mass death of the plague-carrying rats in the blaze. The fire was widely reported in eyewitness accounts, newspapers, letters and diaries. Samuel Pepys recorded climbing the steeple of Barking Church from which he viewed the destroyed City: ‘the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw.’ There was an official enquiry into the causes of the fire, petitions to the King and Lord Mayor to rebuild, new legislation and building Acts. Naturally, the fire became a dramatic and extremely popular subject for painters and engravers. A group of works relatively closely related to the present picture have been traditionally ascribed to Jan Griffier...

Outstanding English late 18th / early 19th century marine scene by one of Britain's best known and sought after painters. William (or Wiliam) Anderson (1757 – 27 May 1837) was a Scottish artist specializing in maritime and patriotic themes. He was well-regarded for his detailed and accurate portraits of ships under sail, exhibiting his works annually in London between 1787 and 1811 and then occasionally until 1834. Anderson influenced other artists, notably John Ward and others of the Hull school. Anderson's early life is obscure, but he is known to have trained as a shipwright before moving to London to become a maritime painter when he was about 30. His training served him well as a painter, providing "a practical nautical knowledge" of his subjects. He earned a reputation for "accuracy and refinement of detail" and was admired for his bright, clear colours. He worked in both oils and watercolours. He based his style on that of well-known Dutch maritime...

NAPLES - Oil on oval canvas cm.30x50 by Ettore Ferrante, Italy 2003. Gold leaf gilded wooden frame cm.48x68 available on request Ettore Ferrante is a refined and excellent landscape ...

Country Landscape - Emilio Pergola Italia 2005 - Oil on canvas cm.80x120. Gold leaf gilded wooden frame available on request This oil on canvas painting depicts a pastoral scene. T...

VENICE - Italian landscape oil on canvas oval painting cm.30x60 by Giancarlo Gorini, Italy 2002. Gold gilded wooden frame available o...

Christ surrounded by angels in the desert Circle of Pietro da Cortona, born as Pietro Berrettini (Cortona 1597 - Rome 1669) Oils on canvas (66 x 50 cm. - in frame 80 x 64 cm.) The ...

Henry Pether, late 18th-century Moonlight lake Landscape. Born into a family of artists, Henry was the son of Abraham Pether (1756-1812), a talented la...

The Great Flood Flemish painter active in the 17th century Oil painting on canvas 52 x 70 cm. - In frame 76 x 95 cm This interesting seventeenth-century Flemish painting illustrate...

Quality work attributed to the painter Peter Van Der Velde (Antwerp 1634 - c.1714)  Coastal view with fortified city and boats (city of Antwerp?) Oil pa...

View of Capri - Francesco D'Angiolo Italia 2004 - Oil on canvas cm. 60x80 Gold leaf gilded wooden frame available on request.

Artist: English School, early 1800's, circle of John Constable (British 1776-1837) Title: The Woodland Path Medium: oil on canvas, framed Size: 12 x 22 inches Picture: 9 x 18 inches Provence: from a private collection in East Anglia...

Pair of Italian 18' century paintings , oil on canvas with Venetian Palace gardens , antiques sculptures and various figures . Measurements with f...

Landscape - Mario Locatelli Italia 2004 - Oil on canvas cm.60x90 Gold leaf gilded wooden frame available on request Mario Locatelli’s painting depicts a rural scene, of an authentic ...

Flemish painter active in Italy in the eighteenth century Coastal landscape of the Mediterranean with architectures and figures Oil painting on canvas (69 x 88 cm., in frame 80 x 100...

Work on wood Molded frame in plaster and gilded wood 37 x 46.5 x 5.5 cm

Antonio Travi, called Sestri (Genoa, Sestri Ponente 1608 - Genoa 1665) Landscape with ruins and biblical scene First half of the seventeenth century oil on canvas, 82 x 121 cm The beautiful painting published, which presents a vast landscape with architectural ruins, fully reflects the pictorial poetics of Antonio Travi (Sestri Ponente 1608 - Genoa 1665), the first landscape painter of the Genoese pictorial school; A poetic that remains constant throughout his career: Bernardo Strozzi...

Artist/ School: French School, 19th century Title: Classical Landscape with figures amongst ancient ruins. Medium: oil painting on canvas, unframed. canvas: 24.5 x 36 inches P...

Work on cardboard Plaster and gilded wood frame 46 x 55.5 x 5 cm

Old master painting featuring a busy port city in the 17th century. Most likely Dutch and very close in style to the work of Thomas Heeremans. This is...

Marine - Enrico Capuano Italia 2009 - Oil on board cm. 20x33

Work on canvas

Quality work attributed to the painter Peter Van Der Velde (Antwerp 1634 - c.1714) - Monogrammed Coastal view with vessels and perched castle Oil painti...

IN THE WOOD - Italian oil on board framed painting, Italy, xx sec, Raffaele Tafuri. External measurement cm.66x59 Raffaele Tafuri (1857-1929) was an I...

Artist/ School: Italian School, 17th century. Title: A King and Queen before court figures, amidst a classical landscape with Roman columns. Medium: oil painting on canvas, framed ...

Work on cardboard Golden wooden frame 35.5 x 49 x 2 cm

Naples - Ettore Ferrante - Italia 2006 - Oil on canvas cm.30x80. Frame available on request from our workshop. Ettore Ferrante is a refined and excellent view painter of the past. ...

Roman school late 17th - early 18th century - Follower of Niccolò Codazzi (Naples, 1642 - Genoa, 1693) Pair of fantastic architectural whims with class...

Johann Heinrich Roos (Otterberg 1631 - Frankfurt 1685) Landscape with the myth of Mercury and Batto (from Ovid's Metamorphoses) Oil painting on canvas 101 x 159 cm. With frame 115 x 174 cm. The work represents the mythological episode, taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses (Ovid, Metamorphoses, II, 676-707), and precisely when the god Mercury, taking advantage of a moment in which Apollo leaves his herd alone, steals some heifers and then hides them in a ravine. The only witness to the theft is the old Batto, a shepherd in charge of looking after the purebred horses of the rich Neleus, king of Pilo and who, in exchange for a heifer, guarantees the God not to be a spy, swearing to him that he will remain silent as a stone. . Immediately distrusting of his words, Mercury decides to test his honesty: he presents himself in front of him with another aspect, asking him if he had seen a herd pass by, and offering him in exchange for this information a bull and a heifer. Batto, who is immediately tempted by this new and more convenient offer, indicates without hesitation where the animals were hidden. As Ovid well illustrates in his poem 'the Metamorphoses', whoever betrays the trust or benevolence of a God is forced to a bitter fate, and so Batto is transformed by Mercury into a stone, remaining silent for eternity just as he had promised. The scene represents the moment when Mercury is offering Batto a heifer, which he indicates with his hand, in exchange for his loyalty. The divinity is perfectly recognizable due to his classical attributes, the winged helmet and shoes and above all the caduceus, the winged staff with two twisted snakes, which he will use to transform the shepherd into a stone. The figurative and exhibition peculiarities of this valuable painting...

Work on wood Golden wooden frame 57 x 44.5 x 5 cm

Giuseppe Zais (Canale d'Agordo, Belluno 1709 - Treviso 1781) Pendant of paintings - The assault of the brigands / After the assault Oil on canvas, 108 x 42 cm. each In the frame 128...

Naples - Vincenzo Montella Italia 2007 - Oil on canvas cm. 60x100 Gold leaf gilded wooden frame cm. 85x125 The painting by V. Montella is a landscape representation of Naples, with t...

James Barenger the younger (1780-1831) ‘Lord Derby's foxhounds’ signed and dated 'J. Barenger. 1809-' (lower right) oil on canvas 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm.) Barenger was born in Kentish Town, London, the son of James Barenger Snr., a metal chaser and artist who exhibited paintings of insects...

The splendour of the tragic sea Francesco Guardi and maritime painting in Venetian art No Venetian painter was a stranger to the sea. After all, Venice was not only one of the most prominent ports of the Mediterranean, but indeed a city literally submerged in the ocean from time to time. Curiously however, the famous Venetian school of painting showed little interest in maritime motifs, favouring scenes from the iconic architecture of the city rather than seascapes. That is why this painting is a particularly interesting window into not only the painter Francesco Guardi himself – but to the significance of the element of water in art history, in absence as well as in the centre of attention. Whether it be calm, sunny days with stunning views of the palaces alongside the canals of Venice or – more rarely – stormy shipwrecking tragedies at sea, water as a unifying element is integral to the works of painter Francesco Guardi (1712–1793). During his lifetime, Venetian art saw many of its greatest triumphs with names like Tiepolo or Canaletto gaining international recognition and firmly establishing Venice as one of the most vibrant artistic communities of Europe. While the city itself already in the 18th century was something of an early tourist spot where aristocrats and high society visited on their grand tour or travels, the artists too contributed to the fame and their work spread the image of Venice as the city of romance and leisure to an international audience, many of whom could never visit in person. Still today, the iconic image of Venice with its whimsical array of palaces, churches and other historic buildings is much influenced by these artists, many of whom have stood the test of time like very well and remain some of the most beloved in all of art history. It was not primarily subtility, intellectual meanings or moral ideals that the Venetian art tried to capture; instead it was the sheer vibrancy of life and the fast-paced city with crumbling palaces and festive people that made this atmosphere so special. Of course, Venice could count painters in most genres among its residents, from portraiture to religious motifs, history painting and much else. Still, it is the Vedutas and views of the city that seems to have etched itself into our memory more than anything else, not least in the tradition of Canaletto who was perhaps the undisputed master of all Venetian painters. Born into his profession, Francesco lived and breathed painting all his life. His father, the painter Domenico Guardi (1678–1716) died when Francesco was just a small child, yet both he and his brothers Niccolò and Gian Antonio continued in their fathers’ footsteps. The Guardi family belonged to the nobility and originated from the mountainous area of Trentino, not far from the Alps. The brothers worked together on more challenging commissions and supported each other in the manner typical of family workshops or networks of artists. Their sister Maria Cecilia married no other than the artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo himself, linking the family to the most renowned Venetian name of the time. During almost a decade, Guardi worked in the studio of Michele Giovanni Marieschi, sometimes simply known as Michiel, a painted similar in both style and motif. Canaletto is, however, the artist Guardi is most often compared to since they shared a mutual fascination for depicting the architecture and cityscape of Venice. During the course of his career, Guardi tried his hand in many different genres. He was as swift in painting landscapes, Vedutas of Venice, sacred motifs, interiors and architectural compositions as he was in a number of other motifs. His style is typical of the Venetian school but also distinct and personal once we look a little closer. There is an absolute certainty in the composition, the choice of which sometimes feels like that of a carefully calculated photograph – yet it is also very painterly, in the best sense of the word: fluid, bold, sensitive and full of character. The brushwork is rapid, intense, seemingly careless and extraordinarily minute at the same time; fresh and planned in a very enjoyable mixture. His interiors often capture the breath-taking spacious glamour of the palaces and all their exquisite decor. He usually constructed the motif through remarkably simple, almost spontaneous yet intuitively precise strokes and shapes. The result was a festive, high-spirited atmospheric quality, far away from the sterile and exact likeness that other painters fell victim to when trying to copy Canaletto. The painting here has nothing of the city of Venice in it. On the contrary, we seem to be transported far away into the solitary ocean, with no architecture, nothing to hold on to – only the roaring sea and the dangerous cliffs upon which the ships are just moments away from being crushed upon. It is a maritime composition evoking both Flemish and Italian precursors, in the proud tradition of maritime painting that for centuries formed a crucial part of our visual culture. This genre of painting is today curiously overlooked, compared to how esteemed and meaningful it was when our relationship to the sea was far more natural than it is today. When both people and goods travelled by water, and many nations and cities – Venice among them – depended entirely on sea fare, the existential connection to the ocean was much more natural and integrated into the imagination. The schools and traditions of maritime art are as manifold as there are countries connected to the sea, and all reflect the need to process the dangers and wonders of the ocean. It could symbolize opportunity, the exciting prospects of a new countries and adventures, prospering trade, beautiful scenery as well as war and tragedy, loss of life, danger and doom. To say that water is ambivalent in nature is an understatement, and these many layers were something that artists explored in the most wondrous ways. Perhaps it takes a bit more time for the modern eye to identify the different nuances and qualities of historic maritime paintings, they may on first impression seem hard to differentiate from each other. But when allowing these motifs to unfold and tell stories of the sea in both fiction and reality – or somewhere in between – we are awarded with an understanding of how the oceans truly built our world. In Guardi’s interpretation, we see an almost theatrically arranged shipwrecking scene. No less than five ships are depicted right in the moment of utter disaster. Caught in a violent storm, the waves have driven them to a shore of sharp cliffs and if not swallowed by the waves, crushing against the cliffs seems to be the only outcome. The large wooden ships are impressively decorated with elaborate sculpture, and in fact relics already during Guardi’s lifetime. They are in fact typical of Dutch and Flemish 17th century ships, giving us a clue to where he got the inspiration from. Guardi must have seen examples of Flemish maritime art, that made him curious about these particular motifs. One is reminded of Flemish painters like Willem van de Velde and Ludolf Backhuysen, and this very painting has indeed been mistakenly attributed to Matthieu van Plattenberg...

18th century Dutch school (circa 1700.) - Circle of Pieter van Bredael (Antwerp 1629 - 1719) A village square with a market scene oil on canvas, 78 x 108 cm., Framed 94 x 121 cm. Questa affascinante scena popolare con un brulicante mercato nella main piazza è un opera di un artist fiammingo attivo intorno al 1700: si tratta di un interesting spaccato di vita dailyiana di un piccolo villaggio dell’Olanda del Secolo d´Oro. Nella piazza brulicante di gente con sullo sfondo delle tipiche case ed una grande fontana zampillante, possiamo assistere al trambusto che ruota attorno al giorno di mercato, con figure di ogni estrazione sociale indaffarate nelle proprie attività. Anche is difficult to ricondurre la tela alla mano di un autore in particolare, data la predilezione di molti autori a questo genere di ricche composizioni, possiamo però avvicinarne l'esecuzione alla cerchia del pittore di Anversa Pieter van Bredael (Anversa 1629–1719). Van Bredael, che faceva parte di una grande famiglia di pittori, è registrato come allievo nella bottega di David Ryckaert III nel 1640. Dopo viaggi di studio nei Paesi Bassi e in Spagna divenne maestro della Gilda di San Luca ad Anversa nel 1651. Lavorò anche in Italia, soprattutto in Roma, dove venne strongly influenzato dallo stile compositivo del gruppo dei Bamboccianti. Era ben noto per le sue scene di mercato altamente fantasiose che illustravano lo spettro diversificato della vita dailyiana della città. I suoi dipinti di paesaggi sono caratterizzati da accenti di colori vivaci, spesso popolati da molte figure che non possono che evocare lo stile di Jan Brueghel il Vecchio. Vi mostriamo di seguito alcune operates dell’autore, con cui è agevole ravvisare stilistiche analogy e compositiva con il nostro dipinto. - Dorotheum, Vienne, Alte Meister...