Giovanni Grevenbroeck, called Solfarolo

A harbor scene with several ships, classical ruins at right, and figures in the foreground; A harbor scene with several ships, a city at left, and figures and a caravan of camels in the foreground

Auction Closed

January 27, 09:38 PM GMT

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Private American Collection

Giovanni Grevenbroeck, called Solfarolo

Netherlands circa 1650 - after 1699 Milan

A harbor scene with several ships, classical ruins at right, and figures in the foreground;

A harbor scene with several ships, a city at left, and figures and a caravan of camels in the foreground

a pair, both oil on canvas

the former, canvas: 31½ by 46¼ in.; 80 by 117.5 cm.

the former. framed: 36½ by 51 in.; 92.7 by 129.5 cm.

the latter, canvas: 31½ by 43¼ in.; 80 by 109.9 cm.

the latter, framed: 36⅝ by 48⅛ in.; 93 by 122.2 cm.

(2)

Royal collection, Toulouse, France (according to prior family tradition);
Mrs. Florence Proctor Gilbert, Cincinnati, Ohio, by 1910;
From whom acquired by a private collector, Atlanta, Georgia;
Thence by descent in the family to a subsequent private collector;
By whom anonymously sold, New York, Sotheby's, 19 May 1994, lot 122A (as Orazio Grevenbroeck);
Where acquired by the present collector.

F. Dassie, I Grevenbroeck, Verona 2019, pp. 50-51, cat. nos 24, 24a, reproduced.

This pair of capricci have recently been recognized by Dr. Fabrizio Dassie, to whom we are grateful, as mature works by Giovanni Grevenbroeck, called Solfarolo, who was the father of artists Orazio, Alessandro, and Carlo Leopoldo. As noted by Dassie in his recent catalogue on this family dynasty of painters, the former canvas, with its distinct colonnade, compares closely to several other canvases by Giovanni.¹ The latter canvas features a slightly different perspective, one that draws attention toward the fortified group of buildings at left as well as to the caravan of camels in the foreground. The inclusion of such exotic animals was a fashionable choice among contemporary Dutch artists of the period, such as Johannes Lingelbach, Hendrik Minderhout, and Abraham Begeyn.

1. Dassie 2019, cat. nos. 8 and 23.