Hi, it appears as if someone has previously mis-attributed this gem of an oil painting to the 16th century German-Swiss artist Hans Holbein who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, perhaps in preparation for a 19th-20th century auction judging by the cryptic coding and name. This painting is actually in a style perfected by 17th century Italian Baroque painter Salvator Rosa (1615 –1673). Rosa was the perpetual rebel, choosing art over law or priesthood as encouraged by his father who loaded him up and took him to the convent of the Somaschi Fathers. He secretly worked on painting with his maternal uncle, a member of one of the Greek families of Sicily. In 1635 travelled from Naples to Rome where he pioneered a new style of landscape that was unconventional, anticlassical, and proto-Romantic. For the first time the landscape was becoming a whole new dubject on its own as a form of painting. The new genre was heavily influenced by expatriate French, Dutch, and Germans as it was by native Italians, like Rosa. Indeed, as the century progressed, foreigners like Poussin and Lorraine dominated this kind of painting. Rosa’s haunting landscapes are characterized by rugged scenes, pastoral people, ruins, overgrown vegetation, and dark or brooding atmospheres that often made use of reflected light. Most on the early landscapes he painted early in Naples were sold cheaply to dealers. Judging from the style, techniques, and hatching on the panel, the painting is most likely 17th century School of Salvatore Rosa. A good cleaning might possibly reveal more details. Thanks for sharing.
🤗 Source: Ruins of Rome
