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Lot Essay
The subject of the present painting is one of two old gates of the city walls in the western part of Brussels (both of which have since been destroyed). The vantage point situates the viewer along the present-day Canal de Charleroi, looking southwest.
Although the style and execution of this painting precludes an attribution to Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, it would appear to have been painted by an artist active in his orbit, perhaps even a member of his family (as suggested by Dr. Kim de Beaumont, verbal communication, June 2008). It is worth noting that Gabriel's elder brother, Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin (1721-1786), traveled to Flanders in 1770. Moreover, there is a drawing with a similar composition signed by another of the Saint-Aubin brothers, Louis-Michel (1731-1779), now in the collection of the Musée du Louvre, Paris (see P. Rosenberg, Le Livre des Saint-Aubin, Paris, 2002, pp. 25-6, 126, fig. 11).
Although the style and execution of this painting precludes an attribution to Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, it would appear to have been painted by an artist active in his orbit, perhaps even a member of his family (as suggested by Dr. Kim de Beaumont, verbal communication, June 2008). It is worth noting that Gabriel's elder brother, Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin (1721-1786), traveled to Flanders in 1770. Moreover, there is a drawing with a similar composition signed by another of the Saint-Aubin brothers, Louis-Michel (1731-1779), now in the collection of the Musée du Louvre, Paris (see P. Rosenberg, Le Livre des Saint-Aubin, Paris, 2002, pp. 25-6, 126, fig. 11).