Lot Essay
The draughtsmanship of the present drawing is unusual for Cantagallina, but has close stylistic similarities to some of the sheets in an album by the artist in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (H. Fierens-Gevaert, 'Voyage inédit d'un artiste florentin du XVIIe siècle au beau pays de Flandre et de Wallonie [Remigio Cantagallina]', Le Flambeau, 6, 1923, pp. 201-219, 326-342). That album contains sheets executed during Cantagallina's travels in Flanders of 1612-13, and the use of the same Flemish-influenced technique to represent a scene in the artist's native Tuscany may suggest that this drawing dates to shortly after his return. Cantagallina shows the Castel di Poggio in Fiesole, which had been the seat of the Alessandri and Girolami families before passing to the Bonaccorsi in the seventeenth century.
We are grateful to Serena Foccaccia and Stefano Rinaldi for their assistance in cataloguing this drawing.
We are grateful to Serena Foccaccia and Stefano Rinaldi for their assistance in cataloguing this drawing.