Property from an English Private Collection

FRANCOIS BRUNERY (ITALIAN 1849-1926)
A challenging passage
signed F.Brunery (lower right)
oil on canvas
61 x 51 cm (24 x 20 in)

PROVENANCE:
Sale, Christie's, London, 21 March 1997, lot 17
Haynes Fine Art, Broadway
Purchased from the above by the present owner in April 2001

In the present work Brunery situates his lute playing ‘cavaliers’ in a Dutch seventeenth century interior. By referencing the Dutch Golden Age, Brunery aligns himself with such Old Master maestros as Gerard ter Borsh and Frans van Mieris, to serve up a feast of colours, textures and designs. Clad in billowing velvet knickerbockers, ornately brocaded doublet and sporting the most intricate lace ruffs, the men’s lush and highly ornamented costumes contrast with the hand-woven deep pile oriental carpet that covers the table, and the hard glazed surfaces of the adjacent drinking vessels, allowing the artist the opportunity to show off his painterly virtuosity.

See introduction under to lot 358.