Govaert Gabriel VAN DER LEEUW (Grechetto da Leone)

Pair of paintings depicting Landscapes with herds, Govaert Gabriel VAN DER LEEUW, signed and dated 1681 Second half of the 17th century, oil on canvas Measurements: cm W 91 x H 123 x D 6; canvas: cm W 72 x H 103.5 Price: confidential negotiation Object accompanied by a certificate of authenticity The pair of fine paintings, made in oil on canvas and presented inside carved and gilded wooden frames from the 19th century, depict two landscapes with cows, sheep, dogs and figures near villages. In both compositions, the groups of farm animals are represented in the foreground, in an outdoor environment, with rocks, small shrubs and roots, some tall trees and palm trees, and some architectural ruins. In the background, the activity of villages is described with vivacity and a swarm of small figures engaged in daily tasks. In one canvas, the lighting of a fire, in the other the storm with lightning that marks the horizon, are the pretext for depicting large gray clouds that create a strong contrast with the intense blue of the sky. The light that is created, strongly theatrical and twilight, envelops the atmosphere with shadows. Only a few luminous rays highlight some animals, whose golden fleece emerges from the brown colors that characterize the whole. The works are signed and dated "G. Leone fecit 1681". This is a Dutch painter of herds and landscapes of the Golden Age, active in the second half of the 17th century, named Govaert Gabriel VAN DER LEEUW (Dordrecht 1645-1688). However, the artist is also known as Gabriel de Lione, Grechetto da Leone, Monsù Leone. Van der Leeuw was the son of Bastiaen Govertsz van der Leeuw and Sybilla van Nieuwstadt. He learned to draw from his father, together with his brother Peter. In 1661 he went to Amsterdam, where he married the sister of the painter David van der Plaats. He then began to travel in Europe, to Lyon and Paris, staying at the Savoy court for two years, visiting Madrid, Rome and Naples. After a brief return to his homeland, he decided to return to Rome and Naples, cities in which he had the greatest success. And it was in Italy that he nicknamed himself "Gabriel de Leone", translating the Dutch surname. In Paris he was known as "peintre ordinaire du Roi" or "Gabriel de Lyon". His works feature different signatures (gdv leeu or G de Leone) depending on where he made them. The two works presented here, and therefore executed during his Italian stay, fit well into the artist's catalog, which reflects that taste widespread throughout Europe in the 17th century but much appreciated in Rome, exemplarily represented by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Rosa da Tivoli and Johann Heinrich Roos, to whom Van der Leeuw certainly related to then find his own original artistic expression. The paintings, in good condition, have a relining of the 19th century.