FRANCISCO GUTIERREZ CABELLO (MADRID, 1616 - BETWEEN... Lot 39

FRANCISCO GUTIERREZ CABELLO (MADRID, 1616 - BETWEEN 1668 and 1670) MOSES SAVED FROM THE WATERS Canvas Old restorations Finding of Moses, canvas, with restorations 108 x 165 CM - 42,5 x 65 IN. Few archival records document the life of our painter. The most important of these concerns the survey of 148 character witnesses when the famous painter Diego Velásquez became a nobleman by joining the Order of Santiago de Compostela in 1658. Gutiérrez declares that he is forty-two years old and a native of Madrid, "although he was originally from the Barcena valley in the Burgos mountains". He states that he has known Velázquez for twenty-eight years, i.e. since 1630, when he was fourteen and following his apprenticeship. It is assumed that he was his assistant during these years, when the master returned from a long trip to Italy, changed his style and adopted Venetian tonal painting and a scintillating, baroque touch. Perhaps also an earlier pupil of Juan de la Corte (circa 1585-1662), Gutiérrez specialized in fantastic architecture, with perspectives animated by biblical or evangelical scenes, such as the six canvases signed in 1662 for the collegiate church of Villagarcía de Campos (Valladolid) and those for the convent of Serradillas (Cáceres). The Prado owns three paintings in this genre from the Spanish royal collection, and the Louvre a Festin d'Esther from 1666. Influenced by Juan de la Corte, the works of Claude Lorrain commissioned by Philip IV and, above all, the Flemish prints of Hans Vredeman de Vries, his grand "caprices" were destined to decorate the palaces of Madrid's aristocracy. The numerous characters, dressed in luxurious costumes, and the circle of maids accompanying the pharaoh's daughter form a colorful crowd. Extravagant rowing galleys ply the Nile, while white horse-drawn carriages wait at the water's edge. The intense blue sky contrasts with the golden facades of the buildings. There are other versions of this subject by the artist. While the composition is broadly similar, the architecture depicted, the position of the figures and every detail are different, in various formats: one in the Royal Palace in Madrid, another acquired by the Fine Arts Museum in Bilbao and from the Caylus Gallery in Madrid in 1997-1998 (103 x 163 CM). The one closest to our canvas, but also including important variants, went on sale in London in 1992 (168 x 216 CM, Sotheby's, Old Master paintings), (July 8, 1992, no. 1, then New York, Sotheby's, February 1, 2018, no. 66; probably dated 1653, the spelling of the ten is not very precise).