Herman van Swanevelt (c. 1600 - 1655), attribuita - Pecore d'Angora e pastori

Status: Excellent print impression; good condition, minimal margins, adhesive edges on the back, as shown in the photo;
Support: Ragged-edged paper;
Shipping: insured shipment via Bartolini/DPD courier. To utilize the insurance coverage, any damage to the package must be contested and reported to the courier at the time of delivery. Otherwise, the insurance reimbursement procedure cannot be activated.
Provenance: from a private collection;

Herman van Swanevelt (Woerden, 1603 – Paris, 1655) was one of the most important Dutch painters and etchers of the Baroque era. His artistic significance lies in redefining and bringing to his classical phase the Italianate landscape genre.

Herman was born in Woerden into a family of thriving artisans whose ancestors included the famous painter Lucas van Leyden. The identity of Swanevelt’s master remains a mystery. A new hypothesis suggests he may have been a pupil of Willem Buytewech.

He painted his early signed and dated works in 1623 in Paris. In 1629 he moved to Rome, where he painted many landscapes and introduced a new type of idyllic landscape with sunlit contre-jours reflecting times of day. Swanevelt became a member of the Bentvueghels; his alias was "Heremiet," while he preferred to work alone.

Created and developed by Paul Bril and Cornelis van Poelenburch from 1600, the genre of the "Italianizing landscape" entered its classical phase in the 1630s with Swanevelt and his friends and contemporaries Pieter van Laer and Claude Lorrain. His paintings became very popular and the Barberini family, Pope Urban VIII and the Vatican offered him commissions, such as in the Monte Cassino monastery. Along with Lorrain and others, he also painted landscapes for the new Buen Retiro Palace of Philip IV of Spain in Madrid.

In 1641 he returned to Paris, where he remained except for occasional visits to his birthplace, Woerden. He became a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1651. He assisted in decorating the Hôtel Lambert and produced numerous drawings and etchings. His patrons in France were Cardinal Richelieu and King Louis XIV. Swanevelt lived on Rue du Temple when he died.