signed ‘L. Cruyl’
pen and grey ink, brown and grey wash, pen and brown ink framing lines, on vellum laid down on paper
18.6 x 22.4 cm
Provenance:
William Esdaile (1758-1837), London (L. 2617; his initials recto and with his inscription ‘1834 WE 40x’ verso), presumably sold before the auction of 1840.
Anonymous sale; Galerie Fischer, Luzern, 22 November 1997, lot 2352, where acquired by Dr. Hans-Ulrich Beck (1930-2010), Augsburg (his mark verso, not in Lugt) and by descent.

The priest, draughtsman, printmaker and architect Lieven Cruyl was born in Ghent
in 1634. He enrolled at Leuven University in 1653, where he studied Liberal Arts and Theology after which he became deacon in Mechelen in 1658. [1] In 1662, Cruyl provided a design for the Saint Bavo church in Ghent, marking the first step of his architectural career. [2] It was during his Italian sojourn from 1664-1676, however, that Cruyl developed as an independent artist. Cruyl’s artistic output from his Roman period consists of meticulous topographical drawings of the city’s celebrated historic sites. Amongst these works are large sized views or Rome which served as designs for etchings. [3] These drawings, and more importantly the etchings after them, played a role in the development of the vedute (the Italian counterpart of the Dutch townscape). They had a particularly strong influence on the work of Caspar van Wittel, known as Vanvitelli (1653-1736), who was one of the leading vedute painters of his time.

Besides these print designs, Cruyl made refined drawings on parchment, often in several versions and in different sizes, that were no doubt produced for collector’s and Grand Tourists looking for precious souvenirs to bring home. The present drawing is such a sheet and is entirely characteristic of the drawings made during this period. Neatly signed, the sheet is executed with particularly near pen-work and subtle wash rendering the strong Roman sun and the shadows cast by the buildings.

The sheet shows the Piazza and Palazzo Farnese, with the Janiculum Hill and the Fontana dell’Acqua Paola in the background. The foreground shows the Piazza Farnese, enlivened with several carriages and a masquerade, while the centre of the sheet shows the Palazzo Farnese. Commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (future Pope Paul III), the great patron of the arts, after a design by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1484- 1546). Building works began in 1515, but due to the sack of Rome in 1527 they were interrupted. In 1534, when Alessandro became Pope Paul III, the building works resumed and the palazzo was enlarged significantly. The new design of the palazzo was entrusted to Michelangelo (1475-1564) who finished and redesigned the third story of the building.

Like many other of Cruyl’s views of Rome, and indeed other cities, he made several drawings showing the Palazzo Farnese. A smaller version, which is part of a series, is in
the Gabinetto Comunale delle Stampe, Rome. [4] A much larger and sketchier drawing that shows the Piazza and Palazzo Farnese from the square itself (rather than a bird’s eye view) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. [5] Another view, closely comparable to the present drawing and used for an engraving in Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanarum, by Johann Georg Graevius (1632-1703), published in 1694–1699, is in the Albertina, Vienna. Barbara Jatta, however, has suggested that this unsigned drawing most likely was made by the engraver, on the basis of a now lost drawing by Cruyl. [6]

While a substantial number of drawings by Cruyl have survived, many of which are now kept in public collections, few sheets have survived in such good condition as the present one. It is no doubt due the careful preservation by collectors over the centuries, that the sheet has kept its freshness and it is perhaps no surprise, therefore, to find the initials of one of the greatest English prints- and drawings collectors on the sheet’s recto and his inscription on the verso (see provenance).



[1] G. Saur, Saur Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Munich, 1992 , vol. 22, p. 483.
[2] See B. Jatta, Lieven Cruyl e la sua opera grafica. Un artista fiammingo nell'Italia del seicento, Brussels and Rome, 1992, no. 107D, fig. 153.
[3] F.W.H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts. ca. 1450-1700, Volume V, Cornelisz.-Dou, Amsterdam, 1949, p. 99, nos. 11-76.
[4] B. Jatta, op. cit., Brussels and Rome, 1992, no. 55, fig. 11; for the series see nos. 48-58.
[5] ibid., no. 70, fig. 10.
[6] ibid., p. 149, no. 1IA.