Italian or French School, early 18th Century

Acquired by Saam and Lily Nijstad on the art market in Paris.

S. Nijstad, Saam's Trio, Deventer 2009, pp. 4-17, reproduced p. 4, as by Bloemaert.

The canvas has an old relining which retains its tautness and which has not flattened the paint surface. To the naked eye the painting appears in good condition original condition with some minor craquelure scattered here and there. Inspection under UV light reveals some retouching along this craquelure in the figure of Amphitrite and the putti centre left, as well as other minor retouchings in the craquelure of the sky upper right and in an area lower right. These are cosmetic rather than structural retouchings and are not obtrusive. Offered in a later plain black frame in good condition.
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Saam Nijstad believed this bleuâtre, (a term he coined to reflect the blue cast of the monochrome grey paint), to be a work by Abraham Bloemaert.¹  There is no doubt that the composition, style and handling are strongly reminiscent of Bloemaert, who loved to paint in various monochrome colours, and who treated mythological subjects like this in a similar way.  His early Marriage of Peleus and Thetis in The Mauritshuis, The Hague, painted on a fine canvas in a rich monochrome pink, would be a good example.²  Bloemaert's later pictures done in colour are notably closer to the style of the present work.  These include his Neptune and Amphitrite in the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, two Triumphs of Neptune: in Utrecht, Centraal Museum and Stockholm, National Museum.³  Motifs in these paintings are found in Bloemaert's celebrated Tekenboek, - in effect a pattern book of engravings made by Frederick Bloemaert after his father Abraham Bloemaert's drawings, for instruction and for use in paintings, published in his lifetime.⁴  The Tekenboek was clearly influential on the painters of the French rococo, and in particular on Francois Boucher - the rocaille forms found in Dutch Mannerist paintings, drawings and silversmiths' work have their counterparts in painting whose style is named after the forms of shells.  French painters also used a cache of Bloemaert drawings discovered in Rome as a rich source of inspiration.

As Jaap Bolten, author of the catalogue raisonné of Bloemaert's drawings, has kindly observed, although this work is highly Bloemaertian it does not appear to be from his hand.⁵  The fluid but loose brushwork is not characteristic of Bloemaert, and the handling is more consistent with paintings of the early rococo in Italy or France.  There is consensus on this, but not on its authorship.  Attributions to Michele Rocca and Ignaz Stern, called Stella have been suggested, and merit consideration.  Parts of the picture, and in particular the head of Amphitrite, are strongly reminiscent of the Venetian Jacopo Amigoni.  It has also been suggested that it might be by the Austrian rococo painter Franz Sigrist. 

1.  See under Literature.
2.  See M.G. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and his sons,  Doornspijk 1993, vol. 1, pp. 74-5, no. 24, reproduced vol. 2, fig. 53.
3. Idem, vol. 1, p. 299, no. 457, reproduced vol. 2,colour plate XXII &  fig. 234;  vol. 1, p. 277, no. 423, reproduced vol. 2, fig. 593; vol. 1, p. 328, no. 514, reproduced vol. 2, colour plate XXIX & fig. 699.
4. Idem, vol. 1, pp. 389-420, nos. 791, 792, T1-T166, reproduced vol. 2, figs 871-T174.
5. Oral communication.  J. Bolten, Abraham Bloemaert c 1565 - 1651.  The Drawings, 2 vols, privately printed 2007.