1600–1700

The canvas depicts several groups of people at various tasks near classical ruins with a statue on one of them; beside them is a herd of cattle, in the background at the left a stable with horses, while on the right the view opens to the sea with a ship. The paintings (cat. nos. 16 and 17) are masterly works, rich in various episodes, and can be attributed to Matteo de’ Pitocchi not least because of the echoes of Callot’s prints, which can always be sensed when we look at Pitocchi’s work. Of particular interest is the scenographic effect, which is almost theatrical; the backgrounds and the animation of some of the groups also bring to mind, beside their Venetian accents, the Roman bamboccianti. Two canvases very similar to ours (both measuring 37 x 87 cm) were sold in Rome (Christie’s, 22 March 1988, Auction No. 158) as works of the little known Ernest Deret. Our two paintings probably date from a not very late creative period of Matteo de’ Pitocchi.

Preservation: Good. The picture was cut at the edges at some time.
Restored: 1991, Kemal Selmanović.
Provenance: Unknown. On the back of the relined canvas is a stamp: DOGANA / E. T./ VOLOSCA, on a label an inscription in ink: Attribuito: Jean Asselijn / nato a Diepen 1610, morto Amsterdam / 1660. Ollandese, scolaro e seguace /di Berchem e Both./ Ha lavorato diversi anni in Italia / Roma e Genova. / Opere del suo penello si trovano / nei musei di Roma, Genova, Dresden, / Berlino, Vienna. – Government of Slovenia, hung in a corridor in Brdo Castle near Kranj; transferred to the Narodna galerija in 1986.
Exhibitions: 1960, Ljubljana, No. 110; 1993, Ljubljana, No. 26.
Lit.: Cevc 1960, p. 41, Cat. No. 110 (Asselijn (Aslein) Jan, called Krabbetje: Scene from the Dutch Revolt (?) II); Zeri and Rozman 1993, pp. 106, 146, Cat. No. 26, Fig. 13; Da Caravaggio, 1998, p. 479 (text Silvia A. Colombo).