Denys Calvaert
THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS CATHERINE, DOMINIC AND THE INFANT SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST, A LANDSCAPE BEYOND
LOT SOLD.
137,500 GBP
Details & Cataloguing
Old Masters Evening Sale
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London
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Denys Calvaert
ANTWERP CIRCA 1540 - 1619 BOLOGNA
THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS CATHERINE, DOMINIC AND THE INFANT SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST, A LANDSCAPE BEYOND
signed and dated upper left: 1592 / DIONISIO CALV...RT / FIANDERESE
oil on copper
53 x 39 cm.; 20 7/8 x 15 3/8 in.
Read Condition Report
Read Condition Report
oil on copper
53 x 39 cm.; 20 7/8 x 15 3/8 in.
Provenance
Private collection, Italy.
Catalogue Note
This hitherto unknown copper was painted by Denys Calvaert, one of the first Flemish artists to migrate to Italy. He focused almost exclusively on religious scenes and while he produced some excellent life-size altarpieces, he was arguably at his best when working on a smaller format, particularly on copper, a support which perfectly complemented his detailed brushwork and use of colour. This signed and dated example is from the artist’s most successful period and includes all his most admired features: vibrant colours, movement and pathos in the figures, sharp foreshortening, and the landscape upper right, which extends all the way to the horizon.
A figure very similar to that of the present Dominic can be found in reverse and in the guise of Saint Francis in a drawing by Calvaert depicting the Apparition of the Madonna to Saints Francis and Roch, in the Louvre's Cabinet des Dessins, Paris, inv. no. 2010.1 Further similarities with works in the artist’s catalogue can be found in another copper of comparable dimensions from 1593–94 which represents the Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Angels in a landscape, at the National Gallery of Scotland, in which putti also descend from the clouds carrying a cross and other instruments of the Passion.
The artist's Flemish origins, proudly noted in the signature, are also mentioned in the copper sold Milan, Sotheby’s, 30 May 2006, lot 5, for 160,000 euros, in which he signed his name DIONISIO FIAMENGO.
1. F. Lugt, Inventaire général des dessins des écoles du nord, maîtres des anciens Pays-Bas nés avant 1550, Paris 1968, p. 128, cat. no. 621, reproduced plate 178.
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