An Armed Robbery
17th Century, oil, canvas, 75 x 120 cm
NG S 2103, National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana
On the second canvas we see a dark, rocky landscape in which robbers have held up a group of travellers. On the left some disreputable people are searching a gentleman and his wife, others are plundering a light chaise. In the background a coach is being robbed and from the right other robbers are hurrying to the scene. In the background too we see groups of robbers on both sides; their herd is gathered in the right corner near the skeleton of a horse.
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 painting was once cut at the edges.
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 i(n) 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. 109; 1993, Ljubljana, No. 27.
Lit.: Cevc 1960, p. 40, Cat. No. 109 (Jan Asselijn (Aslein), called Krabbetje: Scene from the Dutch Revolt (?) I); Zeri and Rozman 1993, pp. 106, 146–147, Cat. No. 27, Fig. 22; Da Caravaggio, 1998, p. 479 (text Silvia A. Colombo).