Orazio Grevenbroeck

Private collection, Naples, by 1990;

Anonymous sale, Naples, Blindarte, 11 December 2011, lot 200;

Acquired subsequently by the present owner.

Naples, Castel Sant'Elmo, All'ombra del Vesuvio. Napoli nella veduta europea dal Quattrocento all'Ottocento, 12 May – 29 July 1990;

Vienna, Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien; and Naples, Castel Sant'Elmo, Barock in Neapel. Kunst zur Zeit der österreichischen Vizekönige (Settecento Napoletano. Sulle ali dell'aquila imperiale 1707–1734), 10 December 1993 – 20 February 1994; and 19 March – 24 July 1994, no. 88.

M. Utili, in All'ombra del Vesuvio. Napoli nella veduta europea dal Quattrocento all'Ottocento, S. Cassani (ed.), exh. cat., Naples 1990, pp. 125 and 392, reproduced in colour;

N. Spinosa, in Barock in Neapel. Kunst zur Zeit der österreichischen Vizekönige, exh. cat., Vienna 1993, pp. 318–19, no. 88, reproduced in colour;

M. Utili, in Settecento Napoletano. Sulle ali dell'aquila imperiale 1707–1734, exh. cat., Naples 1994, pp. 318–19, no. 88, reproduced in colour;

F. Dassie, I Grevenbroeck, Verona 2019, pp. 76–77 and 106–107, no. 62, fig. 24, reproduced.

Adopting a similar viewpoint as the celebrated 15^th-century Tavola Strozzi (Museo Nazionale di San Martino, Naples),¹ this impressive, signed copper by Orazio Grevenbroeck depicts a panoramic and meticulously rendered vista of the Bay of Naples as it would have appeared in the early 18^th century. Moreover, the depiction of the Hapsburg flag above a number of vessels populating the Bay, places the work chronologically during the years of Austrian rule, between 1713 and 1734. Fabrizio Dassie praises the work for its quality and singles it out, alongside another, slightly larger view of the Bay, as one of Grevenbroeck's most ambitious compositions (see Literature). He further suggests that the monumental size of both works may be the result of a specific commission.

¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tavola_Strozzi#/media/File:Tavola_Strozzi_-_Napoli.jpg