Lot 1095 Dα

This work depicts a military general dressed in armour and a deep red cloak leaning on his staff. The small slivers of ocean in the corners of the work allow us to identify him as an admiral. He is shown looking away from the viewer, gazing into the distance, and this contrast of military power and almost philosophical detachment gives this work its special appeal. It is not thought to portray an actual existing military personality, but to have been painted more as an idealised figure or archetypical character study. Francesco Petrucci attributed the work to the Venetian painter Niccolò Cassana, identifying a further, poorer quality version of the motif housed in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna as a copy of this work. In his extensive expertise, he dates the piece to the first decade of the 18th century. At the time, Cassana was working for numerous international patrons. He painted portraits for King Frederick IV of Denmark and resided at the court of the Palatine Prince-Elector Jan Wellem in Düsseldorf, before being called to the court of Queen Anne, where he died in 1714.