Paul Bril

Vienna, Dorotheum, 14 April 2005, lot 141;
Where acquired by the present owner.

F. Cappelletti, Paul Bril e la pittura di paesaggio a Roma 1580-1630, Rome 2005/6, pp. 306-307, no. 172, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This large work has been quite recently restored and should be hung as is. The canvas has a light lining. The paint layer is stable and well textured. The condition generally is very good. There are no noticeable structural damages and little or no abrasion to most of the paint layer. The rigging in the vessel on the left side is slightly worn and needless to say for an old work on canvas, the predictable amount of small retouches have been applied in the sky and in the water, but the foreground, the figures and almost all of the landscape is in beautiful condition having received hardly any restoration and requiring none.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Born in Antwerp in 1554 but active in Rome from 1582 until his death in 1626, Bril was a leading figure in the development of seventeenth century landscape painting in Italy.  His influence can be detected in the works of the Dutch Italianates Cornelis Poelenburgh and Bartholomäus Breenbergh, and this work and others like it that incorporate mythological or bucolic figures into pastoral landscapes had a profound effect upon the work of the young Claude Lorrain.  First active in Rome in the early 1620s, Claude went on to become arguably the most important and influential landscapist in seventeenth century Europe. 

This painting is an impressive and exciting addition to the corpus of known works by Paul Bril.  Although unknown to scholars prior to its appearance on the Vienna art market in 2005, this work has since been accepted as autograph and published in Francesca Cappelletti's monograph on the artist (see Literature).  Additionally, Dr. Luuk Pijl has also confirmed the attribution to Bril and will publish the work in his own forthcoming catalogue raisonné.¹  Both Cappelletti and Pijl consider this to be a late work by the artist, dating it to circa 1625 based on similarities to other late works such as the Landscape with Nymphs and Satyrs in the Allentown Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH (inv. no. 53.257).  Signed and dated 1623, the Allentown canvas reveals a similar treatment in the landscape, particularly in the shaded areas, where the rendering of the leaves and trunks are quite close to the present picture.  Although Bril is known to have collaborated with both Northern and Italian figure painters for the staffage in his landscapes, Dr. Pijl is of the opinion that the figures here depicted are stylistically in keeping with Bril's own way of painting figures and should be viewed as autograph.² 

Bril's canvas depicts several vignettes from the Historiae Aethiopica, or "Ethiopian Story," an ancient Greek romance that is the only known work by Heliodorus of Emesa.  Unknown until 1526 when a copy of the manuscript was found in the library of Matthias Corvinus during the sack of Buda, the Aethiopica quickly became one of the most popular romances of the Renaissance, with the first copies being printed at Basel in 1534, a French translation appearing in 1547, and English, Latin and other translations appearing in rapid succession shortly thereafter.  The Aethiopica tells the story of Chariclea, an exiled, white Ethiopian princess and Theagenes, the Greek nobleman who falls in love with her.  Though they first undergo many trials and tribulations, the story ends with the couple's happy marriage.  Here, Bril has depicted the couple's abduction by a group of bandits who take them to their hideout, and the ship at anchor and the group of bodies on the shore in the middle left refers to another episode from the story in which the couple is taken hostage by pirates but are luckily able to escape when the pirates turn on one another during a feast.  Bril's landscape is clearly ordered, with alternating bands of light and shade adding depth to the composition.  The rocks and trees are all meticulously rendered, while the charming addition of the frogs and rabbits in the lower right; deer and goats in the hills in the upper right; and soaring birds provide a touch of anecdotal whimsy. 

Bril was not the only artist to depict the Aethiopica.  In 1625 his contemporary Abraham Bloemaert was commissioned by Frederik Hendrik of Nassau, Prince of Orange, to paint three scenes from the story on the occasion of the stadholder's marriage.  Although the first in the series has been missing since 1945, the second work, Theagenes Receiving the Palm of Honor from Chariclea is in the Mauritshuis, The Hague and third, Theagenes and Chariclea among the Slain Soldiers, now in Potsdam, Sanssouci, depicts the same scene on the beach that Bril has shown in the background of the present work.


1.  Private communication, 2005.
2.  Ibid.  It should be noted, however, that Cappelletti has suggested that the staffage in the present canvas was executed by a collaborator; see Literature.