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Description

Simone de Wobreck

Simone de Wobreck (Haarlem 1557) - Ascent to Calvary H cm 53 x 40, in frame 63 x 48 Oil on panel Expertise of Professor Claudio Strinati: "The Ascent to Calvary bears inscribed on the back (partially covered by a parchettatura presumably applied in fairly recent times to strengthen the stability of the wood) the following inscription: Martin de Vos Antwerp 1532-1603. So the reference, which I believe was also written in recent times, is to the famous Flemish painter who was also present in Italy and left in our country distinguished works as well as a flourishing workshop. And precisely this point must be dealt with in relation to our painting. The work under consideration here, in fact, is absolutely Flemish and is with absolute certainty datable to the second half of the sixteenth century, but it does not at all denote the style, moreover unmistakable, of Martin de Vos. On the contrary, our work falls within a sphere of Flemish painting in Italy that does not derive directly from de Vos but instead coincides with a school of his countrymen collateral to him but quite distinct. Characteristic of our painting, here under consideration, is the swarming of characters who crowd around the fallen Redeemer and reflect a dual sentiment: ethical and aesthetic. On the one hand, on closer inspection, the painter vigorously depicts with harsh and almost popular accents the grief and sadness of the crowd, which is concentrated and thinned out with a very striking and engaging scenic effect; on the other hand, one can read in the work overall as a sense of derision and mockery, consistent with the story depicted. This kind of representations is typical of Flemish culture, which at a distance even remains connected, in many authors also active in Italy, to the culture of Hieronymus Bosch, dating, however, from the first half of the 16th century. But all this does not belong to the culture of de Vos, who is instead oriented toward an austere and noble classicism. Here, in our work, one sees the exact opposite of classicism. On the contrary, one sees an attitude on the part of the painter who executed the painting, of an absolutely mannerist type that corresponds with what we have noticed there. The stylistic features of our painting, therefore, are closely related to another Flemish master working in southern Italy in the second half of the 16th century, Simone De Wobreck. This is a name that may be less well known today than a de Vos, but Simone De Wobreck was a master of the first rank, active especially in Sicily where he created an important group of disciples and followers. If one compares our painting with an authentic masterpiece of De Wobreck's such as the majestic altarpiece of the Circumcision in the church of San Domenico in Castelvetrano it becomes, in my opinion, glaringly obvious how we are dealing with the same hand. Analytical and sharp, vivid and proliferating, our painting was created by an artist of the same mentality and figurative culture that we see expressed in the Castelvetrano altarpiece. Moreover, Simone De Wobreck repeatedly treated the theme of the Ascent to Calvary, as is well documented by at least two altarpieces that sources refer to him, one already in San Francesco in Caccamo and another in the church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Ciminna. Our painting, in short, must be considered a remarkable work of Flemish Mannerism in Italy, datable probably between the ninth and tenth decade of the 16th century, in the last years of the life of De Wobreck, who, born in Haarlem at an unspecified date but to be placed in the fourth decade, turns out to have disappeared, on documentary grounds, around 1596/97."

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Simone de Wobreck

Estimate 6 900 EUR
Starting price 6 900 EUR

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For sale on Thursday 18 Jul : 16:30 (CEST)
catania, Italy
ArtLaRosa
+390957169129
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