Gottfried Wals, called Goffredo Tedesco

With Giacomo Algranti, Paris;
Acquired by the present collector in 2003.

R.R. Brettell, C.D. Dickerson III, From the Private Collections of Texas, Fort Worth 2009 - 2010, p. 155, under cat. no. 20, reproduced fig. 3

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 work has probably not been recently restored, but if the varnish were freshened, it could be hung in its current state. The darker colors and probably even the spandrel around the edges seem to be quite unretouched. The blue in the sky has received retouches, probably to diminish some weakness or perhaps signs of the dark undercolor. This is a finely detailed work, and the retouches are good. Addressing the varnish may well be the extent of the necessary conservation.
"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."

This landscape by Wals is a lovely example of his small circular paintings on copper, a format and medium that he seems to have favored.  Anke Repp, in her 1986 catalogue of the artist’s work, lists only nineteen autograph paintings, although the 17^th century Flemish collector Gaspard de Roomer, who lived in Naples, is said to have owned no fewer than sixty paintings by Wals.¹  The use of copper as a support allowed for exceptionally fine brushstrokes, lending a luminosity and radiance to the painted surface and providing a perfect vehicle for his subtle gradations of light and dark.  Wals’ landscape compositions were often laid out in distinct parallel planes incorporating simple naturalistic motifs such as farm buildings or overgrown ruins, with figures adding visual interest but never dominating.

The ruin depicted in this painting appears to be based on a drawing by Wals in the Cabinet des Dessins in the Musée du Louvre, although the artist has simplified two smaller arches in the drawing into a single larger one (fig. 1).

The attribution to Wals has been confirmed by Prof. Marcel Roethlisberger, following firsthand inspection (private communication to the owner).  It is impossible to establish any kind of chronology for Wals’ paintings, as there are no dated examples.  However, Prof. Roethlisberger is inclined to believe this is a later work, from the mid-1620s, given its very close relationship to, and even its debt to, the early output of the artist’s best student Claude Lorrain.

 

1.  See A. Repp, Goffredo Wals. Zur Landschaftsmalerei zwischen Adam Elsheimer und Claude Lorrain, Cologne 1985, p. 19, pp. 55-84; (the present work was unknown to her).