Landscape with soldiers at a lake.

Drawing, pen and brown ink, 19 x 27 cm, laid paper, unsigned (some black spots, trimmed to the image, min. stains).

Laid down on an 18th-c. cardb. mount with hand-drawn gilt passe-partout, with ms. attrib. in gilt ink "Guercino", under a wooden frame.

Nice landscape drawing which compares well with others in the same style and technique of the Bolognese painter and draughtsman Giovanni Grimaldi (1606-1680). As accomplished fresco painter, Grimaldi painted a variety of subjects, but his decorative landscapes were most popular with leading Roman families. Organised around a clear sequence of planes leading into the distance punctuated by people and buildings, Grimaldi's landscape drawings remained based in the Carracci tradition. His many etchings and drawings spread the influence of the Bolognese landscape throughout Europe. Formerly attributed to Guercino.
Prov. Robert Udny (1722-1802), British merchant and art collector (stamp on passe-partout, Lugt 2248).