LOUIS DE CAULLERY

(Caullery, c. 1580 - Antwerp, 1621/1622) Merry Company Oil on panel, cm 42.5X52.5 Provenance: Milan, Porro & C. Art Consulting, May 29, 2014, lot 2 (as Louis De Caullery) Cologne, Lempertz, May 16, 2015, lot 1041(as Louis De Caullery) Private collection. Bibliography: RKD: https://rkd.nl/images/277795 This interior scene depicting a party with musicians presents in its narrative tenor the typical characters of Louis de Caullery (Caullery, 1580 ; Antwerp, 1621). The French-born artist moved to Antwerp at an early age where he probably worked in the workshop of Frans Francken II and in 1594 is documented as a pupil of Joos de Momper the Younger; in 1602 we know him accepted as a master in the guild of St. Luke. Later the painter spent a long period in Italy, traveling to Venice, Florence and Rome where he met Adam Elsheimer, Annibale Carracci and probably frequented Caravaggio and Pieter Paul Rubens. The work is accompanied by a critical file by Raffaella Colace. Reference bibliography: F. C. Legrand, Les Peintres flamands de kind au XVIIe Siècle, 1963, p. 76 J. De Maere, M. Wabbes, Illustrated Dictionary of Flemish Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 1994, ad vocem