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Lot Essay
Born in Genoa, Magnasco moved as a child to Milan, where he entered the workshop of Filippo Abbiati. His first-known dated work is from 1695 and the intense chiaroscuro and theatrical quality of his early paintings reflects his Lombard origins. His natural facility with figures meant he was soon in demand as a collaborator with other painters of landscapes and ruins, among them Peruzzini, Marco Ricci, and Nicola van Houbraken. Magnasco was employed by the Medici in Florence, and later in Livorno, and it is likely he traveled to Venice, as indicated by his friendship with Sebastiano Ricci. He spent the majority of his career in Lombardy, though in 1735 he returned home to Genoa, where he worked until his death in 1749.
This picture was lost to scholars for a number of years. The figures in the painting are universally accepted as the work of Alessandro Magnasco, and Geiger attributed the picture to Magnasco entirely. Other authors have assigned the landscape to one of Magnasco's collaborators, including the Genoese landscapists, Carlo Antonio Tavella (1668-1738) and Philipp Paul Roos, called Rosa da Tivoli (1657-1706). Indeed, the dramatic rock formations and shaded grotto in the present picture are markedly similar to a series of oval landscapes in the museum in Padua where the figures are by Magnasco while the setting has sometimes been given to Rosa da Tivoli.
A copy of the present offered at Sotheby's, Olympia, 4 July 2006.
We are grateful to Dr. Daniele de Sarno Prignano for confirming the attribution to Magnasco on the basis of photographs (written communication, 21 April 2010) and for reconfirming his previously published belief that the landscape is by Rosa da Tivoli. We express further thanks to Mary Newcome Schleier and Fausta Franchini Guelfi for also confirming the attribution of the figures in the present lot to Magnasco based on photographs (written communication, 22 April 2010).
This picture was lost to scholars for a number of years. The figures in the painting are universally accepted as the work of Alessandro Magnasco, and Geiger attributed the picture to Magnasco entirely. Other authors have assigned the landscape to one of Magnasco's collaborators, including the Genoese landscapists, Carlo Antonio Tavella (1668-1738) and Philipp Paul Roos, called Rosa da Tivoli (1657-1706). Indeed, the dramatic rock formations and shaded grotto in the present picture are markedly similar to a series of oval landscapes in the museum in Padua where the figures are by Magnasco while the setting has sometimes been given to Rosa da Tivoli.
A copy of the present offered at Sotheby's, Olympia, 4 July 2006.
We are grateful to Dr. Daniele de Sarno Prignano for confirming the attribution to Magnasco on the basis of photographs (written communication, 21 April 2010) and for reconfirming his previously published belief that the landscape is by Rosa da Tivoli. We express further thanks to Mary Newcome Schleier and Fausta Franchini Guelfi for also confirming the attribution of the figures in the present lot to Magnasco based on photographs (written communication, 22 April 2010).