16. Other Art Centres in Northern Italy in Relation to Netherlandish Art

Genoa was very much in the hands of the Flemings.⁵¹³ Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641)⁵¹⁴ and Cornelis de Wael (1592-1667) had put an end to the Mannerist style and Peter Paul Rubens had painted a series of outstanding portraits in 1607/8,⁵¹⁵ to say nothing of de Wael’s ‘Cenacolo dei pittori fiammenghi’ [circle of Flemish painters] (Jan Roos I [1591-1638],⁵¹⁶ Vincent Malo I [1602/06-1644],⁵¹⁷ Peeter Boel [1622-1674]⁵¹⁸ inter alia).⁵¹⁹ Dutch artists, by contrast, paid no more than fleeting visits to the city.⁵²⁰ The only Dutchman to engage in any significant activity there was Pieter Mulier II, known as Tempesta (1637-1701) [i].⁵²¹ However, he came to Italy when he was still a young man and never set foot outside the country again. Moreover, his style is Italian through and through. He may have derived some inspiration from Poussin and Dughet in Rome, where he spent the second half of the 1660s [i].⁵²² His very effective storms at sea were imitated by many Northern Italian painters in the 18th century. Marco Ricci, of whom we spoke a moment ago, also owed a great deal to Mulier, and even Francesco Guardi (1712-1792), under whose name a work by Tempesta was once published, was subject to his influence [i].⁵²³ Rinaldo della Montagna (died 1661), who allegedly hailed from Holland (and may have been called van Bergen?), came to work with him, as did Jan van Bunnik (1654-1627) [i].

Carlo Antonio Tavella (1667-1738) from Milan was a pupil of Tempesta, to whose style he adhered during the many years he spent working in Genoa [i].⁵²⁴ Tavella was an admirer of Claude’s atmospheric paintings and reportedly also studied under a certain Giovanni Grümbroech. Grümbroech is undoubtedly Jan van Grevenbroeck I who was in Rome in 1667-1669 and was perhaps the father of Orazio Grevenbroeck [i], who allegedly hailed from Milan and later moved to Paris.⁵²⁵ Paintings attributed to the eldest of the Grevenbroecks reveal the rather insipid style of the Saftleven school, traces of which are also to be found in Venice in the works of Marco Ricci. Tavella took over very little from Grevenbroeck, however, and so this thin thread in the Dutch tradition peters out here.

The works Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644) produced in Genoa have no connection with Dutch art. Links can be established with Rubens and Jordaens, but we cannot go into them here. The situation is different in respect of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1616-1670), particularly if we consider his painterly approach to printmaking from the end of the 1650s.⁵²⁶ His paintings have nothing whatsoever to do with Dutch art, however. The best example of his ‘Dutch style’ are the etched Oriential head studies (B. 48-56, 32-47) which imitate the chiaroscuro and tonality of Rembrandt and Lievens. In many works he adopts Lievens’ technique, especially in leaving a light background around the figures, thereby making them stand out more [i][i][i][i][i].⁵²⁷ This painterly effect is further enhanced in the monotypes. The Raising of Lazarus as a monotype and etching [i][i] are inspired more by Lievens than by Rembrandt, since with Lievens some Flemish elements always come into play which help to achieve greater visual effect. Castiglione maintained the tonality and sunlight we are familiar with from Berchem’s drawings in his animal and landscape drawings [i]. The artist travelled a lot in Italy – he was in Venice, Bologna, Naples and Rome – before ending his days as court painter in Mantua. So there were sufficient opportunities for him to come into contact the Dutch art. On the other hand, his pastoral scenes were greatly admired, especially in France, until well into the 18th century (by Boucher and Fragonard) so that the Berchem style was also passed on in France through his mediation and transformation.

His activity also meant a great deal for Genoa. His brother, Salvatore Castiglione (1620-after 1676), followed in his footsteps with an etching The Raising of Lazarus in 1645 [i], the sole work by the artist of which we have any knowledge.⁵²⁸ The painterly style of his models underwent a bizarre transformation, however, which in turn made a great impression on German imitators of Rembrandt such as Trautmann.⁵²⁹ The Genoese animal landscapists – and those from Milan too – were more Flemish-oriented from Strozzi’s time onwards, beginning with Sinibaldo Scorza (1589-1631) [i],⁵³⁰ Antonio Travi (1608-1665) [i]⁵³¹ and Vincenzo Campi (1530/6-1591)[i]⁵³² right on up to Jan Roos I from Antwerp (1591-1636) [i]⁵³³ and Antonio Maria Vassallo (167/8-1660),⁵³⁴ Castiglione’s rival. Even Giovanni Agostino Cassana (c. 1665-1720), who was born later, retained this old-fashioned style. A fish still life of 1704 looks like a work by Clara Peeters (auctioned in London, 9 July 1926) [i].⁵³⁵

Turin was likewise visited almost exclusively by Flemish painters.⁵³⁶ In the 16th century Jan Kraeck (c. 1540-1607) was court painter to Duke Emanuel Philibert of Savoy [i].⁵³⁷ Eduard Dubois (1609-1696), who admittedly trained in Haarlem, worked for eight years for Carlo Emanuele II di Savoia (1634-1675). In 1658 Carlo Emanuele II appointed Jan Miel (c. 1599-1664) court painter in Turin, a position which earned him the honorary title of Cavaliere. He died in the city in 1663.⁵³⁸ This painter of Bambocciate is barely recognisable in the Turin frescoes, but if we bear in mind that he became accustomed to ‘large-scale’ painting in Sacchi’s studio then he is certainly not out of place in these princely surroundings [i].⁵³⁹ Oddly enough, Dirck Helmbreeker (1633-1696) did not paint any religious scenes for the duke but a number of Bambocciate instead [i]. These were so well received that he was obliged to send two more in 1694/5.

There are many connections between the two cities of Turin and Genoa and France. The Genoese landscape painter, Francesco Maria Borzone (1625-1679) [i], left his home country for Paris at an early age, as did Angelo Antonio Cignaroli (1767-1841) [i] from Turin in the 18th century. They both acquainted themselves with Wouwerman’s art (but not until they were in France?).⁵⁴⁰ In the case of Cignaroli, who also worked in Milan, Berchem’s art was revived in the elegant French variant we are familiar with from 18th century paintings. Another artist from Milan, Francesco Londonio (1723-1783) likewise deserves an honourable mention here [i]. He made delightful oil sketches in the style of Berchem, Rosa di Tivoli and Dujardin.⁵⁴¹

Returning now to the Florentine art circle we must focus our attention for a moment on the Dutch paintings in the Mansi Collection in Lucca, one of the oldest collections of Dutch art in Italy. Anna Maria van Diemen (c. 1650-1699) [i], who married an Italian merchant by the name of Girolamo Parensi (1633-1713) in Amsterdam in 1675, had in her dowry a charming collection of paintings and when the married couple later moved to Italy the collection naturally went with them.⁵⁴² When Raffaele Mansi married a Parensi in 1742 [=1792], the collection came into the possession of the Mansi family, which still owns it today.⁵⁴³

The port city of Livorno, which was the seat of a Dutch consulate, does not appear to have had any appeal for Dutch artists. Moreover, the consuls had no great financial means at their disposal. There was only one occasion on which an artist – Jan van Bunnik (1654-1727) – was reported to have worked for the Dutch consul.⁵⁴⁴ Augustinus Houbraken was also active in Livorno. He painted various altarpieces for the church of Santissima Annunziata, where they can still be seen today.⁵⁴⁵

As regards the remaining Dutchmen who made their way to other places in Northern Italy, it will be sufficient to mention them briefly by name.⁵⁴⁶ In only one field was there still a tangible Dutch influence and that was in still lifes, this also being the case in Naples. The oldest painter in this group of artists was Andrea (Andries) Benedetti, whom we met previously in Antwerp [i], where he distinguished himself as an imitator of Heda and van Beyeren. Hoogewerff suspected that he returned home around 1650 and that this home was possibly Parma, where some of his paintings are still to be found.⁵⁴⁷ Paolo Antonio Barbieri (1603-1649) [i] from Bologna can be mentioned here, although his style was more closely related to the Flemish still lifes of Adriaen van Utrecht (1599-1652). Another distinct group was formed by the painters of still lifes with musical instruments. They included Evaristo Baschenis (1617-1677) [i], Bartolommeo Bettera (1639-after 1688) [i]⁵⁴⁸ and Christoforo Munari (1667-1720) (fig. 59) [i],⁵⁴⁹ who excelled in the astounding foreshortening of perspectives. This exaggerated form of realism seems strange, but the Dutch vanitas still lifes, which initially spring to mind here, are treated in a more painterly fashion and are more loosely composed.⁵⁵⁰ Caravaggio himself will probably have been the source of inspiration here, although Delogu rightly points to similar compositions in the work of Adriaen van Utrecht.⁵⁵¹ The fish still lifes are highly reminiscent of Jacob Gillig. Dutch poultry still lifes must have served as the model for the Italian minor masters who devoted their attention to this special genre of painting.⁵⁵²

Felice Boselli (1650-1732) from Piacenza was a painter of doves (fig. 58) [i].⁵⁵³ He studied under Pietro Paolo Bonzi (1573-1636) in Rome and probably took over a number of Flemish customs from him as he progressed, these being clearly visible in his paintings of fruit [i]. His doves, on the other hand, were seen through Dutch eyes and painted in accordance with Hondecoeter’s formula. Melchior d’ Hondecoeter (1635/6- 1695) never went to Italy himself, but Jacomo Victors (1640-1705) provides evidence of his approach in Italy (fig. 60) [i].⁵⁵⁴ The works of the Milanese artist, Angelo Maria Crivelli (c. 1650-1730), known as Il Crivellone, would be unthinkable without Hondecoeter’s inspiration[i]. Some of them are more primitive and in their conception more readily comparable with Roelant Savery’s (1576-1639) paintings of hens. In his more dynamic pictures he naturally follows Frans Snijders (1579-1657) and Paul de Vos (1595-1678).⁵⁵⁵

This genre was represented in Bologna by Candido Vitali (1680-1753) [i]. Here again Jacomo Victors and Melchior d’Hondecoeter can be cited as models. In Brescia, finally, the Duranti brothers, Giorgio Duranti (1687-1753)⁵⁵⁶ [i] and Faustino Duranti (1696-1764) (fig. 61)[i], produced very painterly pictures of small farm animals which would have been a credit to someone like Johannes Spruyt (1627/8-1671).⁵⁵⁷ Brescia, incidentally, was also where the influence of the Bambocciate lasted longest. Ceruti and Cipper-Todeschini were the final representatives of this originally Dutch movement which by now had been fully assimilated into Italian art.