Giovanni Grevenbroeck Dit Il Solfarolo (1650 -1699). Marine, Capriccio Portuaire.

Giovanni Grevenbroeck called Il Solfarolo (around 1650 – Milan, 1699). Seascape, port view in an architectural whim.

Relined canvas measuring 46 cm by 35 cm.
Old frame measuring 57 cm by 47 cm.

This superb and rare painting offers us an imaginary port with an impressive number of characters in a very beautiful light.
A few years ago, our painting would have been attributed to Orazio Grevenbroeck, Giovanni's son. The Louvre has two paintings by Giovanni Grevenbroeck that were ultimately given to Giovanni and not to Orazio in 2019. These superb coppers can be admired at the Fine Arts (and Lace) Museums in Alençon (the Orazzio cartouches were left on the frames...)
While paintings in this style are numerous by Orazzio, who was therefore inspired by his father, those by Giovanni are very rare:
"Among the works preserved in public collections, we can distinguish a counterpart of paintings (oil on copper, 34 x 52 cm each) preserved at the Museum of Fine Arts and Lace in Alençon: a seaport, represented with sailboats and fortifications and a maritime port, represented at sunset by an equestrian statue in the center of the pier. The latter is dated and signed 1690 Gio. The recognition of Giovanni Grevenbroeck's counterpart is due to Roethlisberger (1970); Dassie (2019) agrees.
Another pair of works similar to the previous ones, still classified with an attribution to his son Orazio, but belonging to Giovanni's autograph, are kept at the Musée Bertrand in Châteauroux: Marina at dawn, (oil on canvas, 84 cm, 5 x 119 ) and Marina at sunset (85 x 118.5 cm).
Another painting (copper with oil on copper, 42 x 31 cm) depicting a harbour scene at dawn is kept at the Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco in Milan.
Also noteworthy are two harbour scenes with ships at anchor in Milan (oil on canvas, 42 x 65 cm each) belonging to the Credem art collection.
Two drawings kept at the British Museum also belong to Solfarolo's corpus, depicting a harbour scene and a coastal scene respectively. »

We can now add our painting to this list.

One might wonder why these few paintings were concealed from an attribution to Giovanni Grevenbroeck? One of the possible reasons is that the first paintings discovered and attributed to him are of a completely different style. Inspired by the painting of Salvator Rosa after 1660, they are particularly very dark...

Giovanni Grevenbroeck called Il Solfarolo (around 1650-Milan, 1699)

Giovanni Grevenbroeck is the founder of a family of landscape painters from the Netherlands, working mainly in Italy. Bearing the same name are: Orazio Grevenbroeck (Milan, 1676 – Naples, 1739), Alessandro Grevenbroeck (late 17th century – Venice, after 1748) and Carlo Leopoldo Grevenbroeck (Milan, late 17th century – Naples, after 1757).
After his apprenticeship in Flanders, Giovanni Grevenbroeck, probably to complete his studies, arrived in Italy
During his stay in Rome, he received commissions from the Colonna family: Marine with sunrise, Marine…
Giovanni Grevenbroeck spent most of his life in Milan; in this context, he had the opportunity to paint landscapes and seascapes that would become part of the most renowned Milanese galleries of the time. In the Lombard capital, he founded a pictorial school that also welcomed the painter Carlo Antonio Tavella among its members. Giovanni Grevenbroeck was also one of the founders of the Accademia di San Luca of painters, sculptors and architects in Milan.