ARTWORK OF THE DAY – Capricci

Architectural Capricci

The crumbling ruins with columns and antique statues in lots 322 to 328 mark out these pictures as architectural capricci.  A group of paintings, all from the collection of the same owner, are veduta ideate – idealised views, composed both from real studies of Greco-Roman ruins, with settings and figures born from the inspiration of the artists who painted them.

Leonardo Coccorante (Naples 1680–1750) Ruins in a coastal landscape with figures, oil on canvas, 103 x 154.5 cm, estimate €15,000 – 20,000
Leonardo Coccorante (Naples 1680–1750) Ruins in a coastal landscape with figures, oil on canvas, 103 x 154.5 cm, estimate €15,000 – 20,000
Roman School, 18th Century, A capriccio with figures amongst ruins, oil on canvas, 70.5 x 79 cm, estimate €6,000 – 8,000
Roman School, 18th Century, A capriccio with figures amongst ruins, oil on canvas, 70.5 x 79 cm, estimate €6,000 – 8,000

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) described as capricci the architectural settings for large scale frescos, where pillars and arches might have a trompe l’oeil effect to look like part of the rooms on whose walls they were applied. However, by the seventeenth century, the capriccio was a genre of its own.

From the ornate plinth surmounted by a statue of Hercules slaying the Hydra in lot 323 to the time-worn obelisk in lot 327, these works remain poignant fantasies of improvised place and time – thought evoking pieces for any collection.

Online Auktion
OLD MASTER PAINTINGS
15. Dezember 2020, 15 Uhr

PREVIEW
until 15 December 2020

 

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