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| Title | A Courtyard of a Venetian Palace | |
| Collection | Victoria and Albert Museum | |
| Artist | Attributed to Caullery, Louis de (Flemish painter, before 1582–after 1621) | |
| Date Earliest | about 1615 | |
| Date Latest | about 1625 | |
| Description | The courtyard of a Venetian palace is filled with elegantly dressed and posed figures in conversation, playing music and drinking. A green arbour shelters a splashing fountain in the middle ground and frames the classical palace beyond. At left, visitors disembark from gondolas on the lagoon. The perspectival composition and figures are reminiscent of many of de Caullery's capriccii, fantastical painted compositions which combine features of imaginary and/or real architecture, in a picturesque setting. However the quality of this work suggests that it is by a contemporary artist working in the style of de Caullery Louis de Caullery was a pioneer in the genre of courtly gatherings in Flemish painting of the seventeenth century. He probably came from the village of Caulery near Cambrai, but moved to Antwerp in 1594 to train with Joos de Momper and was accepted as a Master there in 1602. While the date he went to Italy in uncertain, his works reveal that he spent time in Venice, Florence and Rome. |
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| Current Accession Number | 698-1883 | |
| Subject | townscape; buildings and gardens; place (Venice); figure | |
| Measurements | 47.5 x 70 cm | |
| Material | oil on panel (hardwood {oak}) | |
| Acquisition Details | Purchased 1883. | |
| Publications | A Catalogue of the National Gallery of British Art at South Kensington with a supplement containing works by modern foreign artists and Old Masters, 1893, p. 191; Jacob Burckhardt, The civilization of the renaissance in Italy, Vienna and London, 1937; Selwyn Brinton, Venice past and present, London, 1925; édouard Michel, 'Louis de Caulery au Musée d'Anvers' in Revue belge d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art, 3, 1933, pp. 224-229; Georges Marlier, 'Unbekannte Gemälde von Louis de Caulery' in Weltkunst, München, 24, 1954, 19, p. 10; Carl van de Velde, 'Enkele biografische gegevens betreffende Louis de Caulery' in Jaarboek: Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 1966, pp. 211-214; Jeanne et Robert Genaille, 'Deux tableaux de Louis de Caulery,' Gazette des beaux-arts, 6, Pér. 67, 1966, pp. 111-114; Andrzej Chudzikowski, 'Louis de Caulery et ses tableaux en Pologne' in Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie, 8, 1967, pp. 25-31; Kauffmann, C.M., Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 66, cat. no. 63; Pavel Štepánek, 'Louis de Caulery, alegorie Peti smyslu', Umení: casopis Kabinetu theorii a dejin umení Ceskoslovenske akademie ved, N.S. 26, 1978, p. 183-185; Annamária Gosztola, 'The paintings of Louis de Caulery in Hungary' in Flemish art in Hungary: Budapest, 12 - 13 May 2000 / Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van Belgie voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten, ed. Carl Van de Velde, Brussels, 2004, pp. 63-72; Didier Bodart, Les peintres des Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la principauté de Liège à Rome au XVIIème siècle, 2 vols, Brussels, 1970, Bd. 1, 2; Kauffmann, C.M., Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 66, cat. no. 63; Pavel Štepánek, 'Louis de Caulery, alegorie Peti smyslu', Umení: casopis Kabinetu theorii a dejin umení Ceskoslovenske akademie ved, N.S., 26, 1978, p. 183-185. | |
| Notes | A letter from H. Gerson of the Rijsbureau voor Kunsthisstoriesche Documentatie (RKD) dated 20 April 1948 to Mr. Graham Reynolds (Deputy Keeper, Dept. of Paintings at V&A) states that, in consultation with de Vries, they are not convinced that the picture is by de Caullery and state that the quality of the architecture is week. They propose a German attribution. Two other works attributed to de Caullery also include a verdant cupola/arbour in the centre middleground within a rectangularly defined space receding into the distance: A Garden Festival (Denis Vanderker Gallery, Winter 1967-68) and Venus, Bacchus and Ceres with Mortals under a Garden Bower (Rijksmuseum, inv. SK-A-1956). The couple walking hand in hand at center left is a particularly popular motif and reappears throughout de Caullery's oeuvre in works such as the Galant companionship at a Venetian Palace (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper, inv. 873-1-237). The treatment of the greenery and of the costume in 698-1883 is less sophisticated than the Rijksmuseum picture however, suggesting that the work is not by the artist's own hand but a contemporary artist working in the style of de Caullery. |
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| Rights Owner | © Victoria and Albert Museum, London | |
| Author | Jennifer Sliwka | |