Venus Reclining In A Landscape, By Franck Pauwels, Known As Paolo The Flemish
Artist: Pauwels Franck, Dit Paolo Fiammingo (anvers 1540 - Venise 1596)
Pauwels Franck, known as Paolo Fiammingo (Antwerp, 1540 – Venice, 1596)
Venus Reclining in a Landscape
Oil on canvas (116 x 150 cm – in an antique frame, 136 x 170 cm.)
The work is accompanied by a critical analysis by Dr. Federica Spadotto
Complete details of this work can be viewed directly at the following - LINK -
This splendid painting depicts a refined and sensual Venus, reclining and unclothed on a red gold-brocaded cloth strewn with roses, a refined and sensual Venus, in a composition of profound symbolic value, achieving the perfect representation of the Renaissance woman who, like Venus, becomes an allegory of love, eros, beauty, and fertility.
The painting is part of the prestigious Venetian artistic and cultural scene of the second half of the sixteenth century, whose distinctive characteristic lies in its cosmopolitan nature. This characteristic, as Dr. Spadotto noted in her in-depth study, is inherent to the very nature of the Venetian capital—namely, its status as a distinctly commercial city situated at a strategic hub for trade. Being one of the busiest ports in the Mediterranean also meant witnessing the constant flow not only of goods but also of people, ideas, and influences from distant lands, which shaped not only the tastes of its inhabitants but, above all, its art.
This occurred thanks to the circulation of prints, as well as paintings, in addition to the visits of great foreign artists and, above all, the permanent residence in the city of a significant number of Dutch, Flemish, and German masters.
A prime example in this regard is Pauwels Franck (Antwerp, 1540 – Venice, 1596), better known as Paolo Fiammingo, who had established himself in his hometown at a young age—in 1561 he was registered with the Guild of Saint Luke—and arrived in Venice in 1573.
He resided in Venice from 1584 until his death, although the stylistic and formal references in some of his works have led critics to believe that in previous years he had undertaken a journey through central Italy, namely to Florence and Rome, where he would have absorbed the lively cultural debate that permeated those cities and which, by contrast, seemed entirely absent in Venice.
There, Paolo was captivated by the sense of color and the atmospheric quality captured on canvas by Jacopo Tintoretto (Venice 1518–1594), with whom he began collaborating; and around 1590, he came under the influence of Paolo Caliari, known as Veronese (Verona 1528–Venice 1588), both in terms of color and with regard to specific guiding principles.
The painting under consideration serves as an illuminating figurative example of what has just been described, as it reinterprets the Venetian pictorial tradition through a Northern European lens, which is applied to a subject typical of the Renaissance repertoire. In the Venus in the foreground, with her typically Veronesian features, the reference to Titian’s *Venus with an Organist, a Cupid, and a Little Dog* (Pieve di Cadore, 1488–90–Venice, 1576) and now housed at the Staatliches Museum in Berlin, appears to be a true homage to the great master. It shares the compositional structure with the latter work—featuring the red curtain hanging over the goddess and the landscape in the background—though reinterpreted in a strictly Northern European style, following a approach traceable in the *Venus with a Small Dog* at Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice.
In this version of the theme, however, the artist still shows himself to be tied to Flemish conventions, which in the large canvas under study achieve a complete synthesis of Northern European aesthetics and Venetian sensibility. In the small flowers in the foreground and in the delightful landscape backdrop that evokes the great Flemish masters, the highly distinctive Venetian light is clearly perceptible: a true hallmark—along with the sky derived from Caliari—of the pictorial formula developed by Pauwels. He creates a polished cameo imbued with elegance, refinement, and expressive joy all at once, in which the composed feminine beauty and the landscape, rendered with meticulous detail, coexist with a swift, lively brushstroke steeped in light.
The painting is in excellent condition, with a beautiful antique frame.
The work is accompanied by a photographic certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law.
We handle and arrange the shipping of purchased works, both within Italy and internationally, through professional and insured carriers. For any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Follow us on:
https://www.instagram.com/galleriacastelbarco/?hl=it
https://www.facebook.com/galleriacastelbarco/
Venus Reclining in a Landscape
Oil on canvas (116 x 150 cm – in an antique frame, 136 x 170 cm.)
The work is accompanied by a critical analysis by Dr. Federica Spadotto
Complete details of this work can be viewed directly at the following - LINK -
This splendid painting depicts a refined and sensual Venus, reclining and unclothed on a red gold-brocaded cloth strewn with roses, a refined and sensual Venus, in a composition of profound symbolic value, achieving the perfect representation of the Renaissance woman who, like Venus, becomes an allegory of love, eros, beauty, and fertility.
The painting is part of the prestigious Venetian artistic and cultural scene of the second half of the sixteenth century, whose distinctive characteristic lies in its cosmopolitan nature. This characteristic, as Dr. Spadotto noted in her in-depth study, is inherent to the very nature of the Venetian capital—namely, its status as a distinctly commercial city situated at a strategic hub for trade. Being one of the busiest ports in the Mediterranean also meant witnessing the constant flow not only of goods but also of people, ideas, and influences from distant lands, which shaped not only the tastes of its inhabitants but, above all, its art.
This occurred thanks to the circulation of prints, as well as paintings, in addition to the visits of great foreign artists and, above all, the permanent residence in the city of a significant number of Dutch, Flemish, and German masters.
A prime example in this regard is Pauwels Franck (Antwerp, 1540 – Venice, 1596), better known as Paolo Fiammingo, who had established himself in his hometown at a young age—in 1561 he was registered with the Guild of Saint Luke—and arrived in Venice in 1573.
He resided in Venice from 1584 until his death, although the stylistic and formal references in some of his works have led critics to believe that in previous years he had undertaken a journey through central Italy, namely to Florence and Rome, where he would have absorbed the lively cultural debate that permeated those cities and which, by contrast, seemed entirely absent in Venice.
There, Paolo was captivated by the sense of color and the atmospheric quality captured on canvas by Jacopo Tintoretto (Venice 1518–1594), with whom he began collaborating; and around 1590, he came under the influence of Paolo Caliari, known as Veronese (Verona 1528–Venice 1588), both in terms of color and with regard to specific guiding principles.
The painting under consideration serves as an illuminating figurative example of what has just been described, as it reinterprets the Venetian pictorial tradition through a Northern European lens, which is applied to a subject typical of the Renaissance repertoire. In the Venus in the foreground, with her typically Veronesian features, the reference to Titian’s *Venus with an Organist, a Cupid, and a Little Dog* (Pieve di Cadore, 1488–90–Venice, 1576) and now housed at the Staatliches Museum in Berlin, appears to be a true homage to the great master. It shares the compositional structure with the latter work—featuring the red curtain hanging over the goddess and the landscape in the background—though reinterpreted in a strictly Northern European style, following a approach traceable in the *Venus with a Small Dog* at Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice.
In this version of the theme, however, the artist still shows himself to be tied to Flemish conventions, which in the large canvas under study achieve a complete synthesis of Northern European aesthetics and Venetian sensibility. In the small flowers in the foreground and in the delightful landscape backdrop that evokes the great Flemish masters, the highly distinctive Venetian light is clearly perceptible: a true hallmark—along with the sky derived from Caliari—of the pictorial formula developed by Pauwels. He creates a polished cameo imbued with elegance, refinement, and expressive joy all at once, in which the composed feminine beauty and the landscape, rendered with meticulous detail, coexist with a swift, lively brushstroke steeped in light.
The painting is in excellent condition, with a beautiful antique frame.
The work is accompanied by a photographic certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law.
We handle and arrange the shipping of purchased works, both within Italy and internationally, through professional and insured carriers. For any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Follow us on:
https://www.instagram.com/galleriacastelbarco/?hl=it
https://www.facebook.com/galleriacastelbarco/
24 000 €
Period: 16th century
Style: Renaissance, Louis 13th
Condition: Excellent condition
Material: Oil painting
Width: encadré 170 cm.
Height: encadré 136 cm.
Reference (ID): 1796682
Availability: In stock
Print
