Herons, ducks and kingfishers by a stream in a wooded landscape
Herons, ducks and kingfishers by a stream in a wooded landscape
GIOVANNI CRIVELLI called Il CRIVELLINO
c.1690 - 1760
Italian School
Herons, ducks and kingfishers by a stream in a wooded landscape
Oil on canvas
150 x 208 cms
59 x 817/8 ins
Overall framed size 163 x 223 cms
641/8 x 873/4 ins
Giovanni Crivelli was born in Milan in around 1690, the son of the Lombard bird, animal, still life and hunting artist Angelo Maria Crivelli (? - c.1730) who was known as Il Crivellone.
Giovanni (who has sometimes been erroneously referred to as Jacopo) probably received his initial artistic instruction from his father but by around 1720, he was working with the still life painter Felice Boselli (1650 - 1732) who, unlike some of his contemporaries, shunned depicting elegant objects in a refined style. His preference was for humbler subjects and settings with skinned birds hanging in a larder and fish on a plain wooden table in a kitchen. Paintings showing an abundance of game were popular however with the aristocratic patrons who were keen on hunting and providing banquets full of the success of hunting.
Boselli's influence can be clearly discerned in Crivelli's work in the application of paint on the canvas with light but broad strokes of a brush. However, in subject matter, Crivelli is more in the manner of the Antwerp school with artists such as Frans Snyders (1579 -1657), Paul de Vos (1 c.1595 - 1678) and Jan Fyt (1611 - 1661). His palette utilises muted, soft tones and there is often the vista of a park or a landscape beyond the subject matter in the foreground. Many of his bird paintings are on a large scale and would have been commissioned for the grand palaces in Milan as well as in Parma, particularly for the Court in Parma where he was very popular. Birds are a common theme in his paintings with herons, peacocks, ducks, chickens, plover and doves among others in various settings. Hounds bringing down boar or dogs around a pile of game are also represented.
He died in Parma in 1760. Examples of his work can be seen in Bergamo, Milan (Cova Minotti Collection, Brera), Orléans, Stupinigi (Palazzino di Caccia) and the Zoological Society of London has a painting of Herons and Lapwings which is probably by Crivelli.
Bibliography:
La Natura morta in Italia - ed. Francesco Porzio
Dictionnaire des Peintres - E Benezit
c 1690 - 1760
Oil on canvas
Italy
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