Landscape with ruin, traveler on horseback and herds - SOLD

From the painter's monograph: His peculiar and, in some respects, isolated production, is in fact a particular expression of the Genoese figurative language of the early 17th century …. (Zanelli, p. 7). The first biography of Travi is by Soprani, and Zanelli defines it as a little "romanticized": "Chance joked with Antonio Travi by favoring him: it opened up a good opportunity for him: it suited his ingenuity: and it made him a worthy Painter." "Bernardo Strozzi, nicknamed the Capuchin, … , needed a boy for house service, and especially for grinding colors. He had been looking for a long time; when he came across Antonio Travi [also called Sestri, because he was native of Sestri Ponente], a child of humble condition, and almost a beggar, he seemed suitable to him; …. Travi low miserable, quite badly dressed, moreover, slightly deaf. He had no education, except for the rudiments of reading, and forming some letters (Soprani-Ratti, p. 304). The boy, eager for painting, while he was working for his Master, was observing the manners... Then secretly in his free hours he would imitate him; now copying figures, and now making sketches (Ibidem, p. 305). So much so that Strozzi himself was amazed: ... how an idiot, at a young age, without any instruction, had been able to do so much ... and therefore … He made him a disciple (Ibidem, p. 305). The first master was, therefore, Bernardo Strozzi, fundamental for his formation, but the acquaintance with the German painter Wals, who came to Genoa in the Twenties of the seventeenth century, marked a new way of painting: "Goffredo Waals Flemish painter very expert in painting small countries with buildings, and architecture of various shapes, and views (Ibidem, p. 305). Travi's style will subsequently evolve by looking at the production of the Grechetto, and this delightful canvas, in excellent condition, is an evident reference to the painting Flight of Sheep (Zanelli, fig. 18 p. 21) by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, kept at the Museo di Palazzo Rosso in Genoa. Exhibitions: Exhibition of Genoese Painters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Palazzo Reale, Genoa, June-August 1938), curated by O. Grosso, M. Bonzi, C. Marcenaro. Dimensions: 29 x 43 cm