Lot 2018 Dα

The sophisticated allegorical scene unfolds across this large canvas within a detailed and verdant landscape. The personification of Abundance, a young woman with the attribute of the cornucopia at her left, is attended by putti personifying the four elements - earth, water, air, and fire. She is surrounded by still life elements: Flora, fauna, exotic animals and allegorical details - the dog and hen feeding their young refer to the idea of Abundance as Alma Mater. The still life details, in their near encyclopaedic volume, play almost as important a role as the central figure in balancing the composition, and it is feasible that two artists collaborated in the completion of the work.
The depiction is a fascinating example of an encounter between the Italian and northern schools, a dialogue that began in the fifteenth century and was encouraged by the dissemination of prints across both sides of the Alps during the sixteenth. Sixteenth century European cultural elites were quite cosmopolitan and artists travelled between different countries, courts and cities, competing to assimilate different cultural references and develop a new style. This mixture of influences makes the process of attributing works somewhat complicated.
The Italian peninsula held a strong attraction for the entire artistic community. From the early sixteenth century onwards, Florence, Rome, Genoa, Milan and especially Venice - a free Republic and one of the European continent's main printing centres - fascinated many northern artists who settled in the Peninsula to gain praise and fame.
So far it has not been possible to identify the author of this work, which was previously assigned to the circle of painters around Rudolf II of Prague. However, the style and composition closely recall the large allegorical paintings composed in Italy by the artists in the entourage of Cosimo II, and especially the northern artists such as Martin de Vos, Frans Floris or Lambert Sustris who were active in Venice within the largest artistic enterprise of the day: Titian´s workshop.
We are grateful to Dr Alessandro Rossi for his kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.