Description:

pen and black ink, wash and white chalk
315 x 875 mm

Provenance:

Anthony Powell (1835-2021)

Note:

An attribution to the circle of the Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano (1634-1705) has been suggested for this large-scale depiction of a battle scene. The sheet bears many of the hallmarks of late-17th and early-18th century Neapolitan draughtsmanship and of the artists of Giordano’s workshop, Giuseppe Simonelli (1649-1713), Paolo de Matteis (1662-1728) and Nicola Malinconico (1663-1726) have the most clearly distinguished artistic personalities. Both Simonelli and Malinconico excelled in the production of battle scenes, and like de Matteis these artists frequently employed Giordano’s late drawing style with sketchy preliminary outlines drawn in pen and ink or black chalk and embellished with figurative detailing in wash.