Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 23

Van Den Bossche Alexander The Great Paint Oil on canvas 17/18th Century Flemish

1695-1721

About the Item

Balthasar Van Den Bossche (Antwerp, 1681 - 1715) Alexander the Great and Campaspe in the studio of the painter Apelles The canvas was exhibited in Perugia (Museo di Palazzo della Penna) at the exhibition "RENAISSANCE IN THE BOTTEGA: PERUGINO AMONG THE GREATS OF HISTORY" (29 October 2023 - 28 January 2024) - see photo details -. Oil painting on canvas 120 x 162 cm. - In gilded frame 135 x 176 cm. This fascinating painting, a real gem for any connoisseur and collector of old paintings, depicting Alexander the Great in the studio of the painter Apelles to view the portrait of his favourite concubine Campaspe, is a quality work by the Flemish artist Balthasar Van Den Bossche (Antwerp 1681 - 1715). Born in Antwerp, he trained in the workshop of Gerard Thomas and was awarded the title of master in the Antwerp Guild as early as 1697. This was followed by a move to Paris, documented until 1700, where he founded his own studio, alternating his work as a painter with that of an art dealer. His combination of the elegance of the French style with Flemish characters brought him enormous success among Parisian collectors. The collector's success of his creations was remarkable, obtaining the patronage of important personalities such as the Duke of Marlborough, his fervent patron. He finished his career in his home town, with a flourishing workshop, specialising in interior paintings of studios and picture galleries. Our beautiful canvas, presumably executed at the turn of the century, is a fine example of his production, rich in detail and of great charm. It depicts an episode recounted by Pliny the Elder in his work Naturalis Historia (Book xxxv, 85-87), written in 77 A.D., in which it is narrated that the illustrious painter Apelles, thanks to his enormous artistic talents, became the favourite of Alexander the Great, who called him to paint the portrait of Campaspe, the favourite among his concubines; During the execution of the work, the painter fell madly in love with the young woman, who was therefore given to him by the leader as a form of thanks for his services. The anecdote of Apelles and Campaspe is often quoted and illustrated because it shows the high esteem of a ruler for his court painter, whose artistic ability is highly appreciated and who, therefore, occupies an important position in society. As early as the 16th century, this subject was habitually included among the 'exempla virtutis' within celebratory decorations, as the act of handing over the young Campaspe to Apelles was considered an example of the magnanimity of Alexander the Great and thus reflected the moral qualities of the patron, who, thus compared to the valiant leader, implicitly acquired his gifts; Let us now enter into the details of the composition, which sees the painter, seated in front of his easel, observing the beauty of the young woman posing and then portraying her features, and at his side Alexander in bright red Renaissance clothing, who looks critically at the painting to be completed. The scene is animated by a small Cupid, hidden behind the easel, who is about to shoot his love arrow towards the painter. In the central part the painter has inserted two animals, particular for their allegorical meanings and recalling the two male protagonists of the canvas: a monkey, tied by an iron ball, embodying carnal instincts and lust, with a dog at his side, alluding instead to loyalty and deep friendship. Framing the scene, one cannot but be struck by the setting of the artist's large workshop, rich in details such as the classical sculptures, the numerous paintings that are already completed and the still life with precious objects near the young woman lying down. The peculiarity of this type of work, typical of the old Flemish tradition, is precisely the precision and richness of detail with which the painter enriched his settings, destined for wealthy patrons. In such compositions, the taste for depicting opulent environments emerges, alluding to the social superiority but above all to the culture and passion for art of the wealthy patrons. The painting is in an excellent state of preservation and is accompanied by an antique gilded frame. The painting is sold with a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic card. We take care of and organise the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers. Contact us for any information, we will be happy to answer you.
  • Attributed to:
    Balthasar Van Den Bossche (Antwerp, 1681 - 1715) (1681 - 1715)
  • Creation Year:
    1695-1721
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 53.15 in (135 cm)Width: 69.3 in (176 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Riva del Garda, IT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU988113586192
More From This SellerView All
  • Coastal Landscape See Paint Lacroix de Marseille Oil on canvas 18th Century Art
    Located in Riva del Garda, IT
    Coastal view at sunset with fishermen and boats Atelier of Charles François Grenier De Lacroix, called de Marseille (Marseille 1700 - Berlin 1782) Oil on canvas 50 x 62 cm. - in fra...
    Category

    18th Century Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Children Landscape Jeaurat Paint Oil on canvas 18th Century Old master French
    Located in Riva del Garda, IT
    Étienne Jeaurat (Vermenton 1699 - Versailles 1789) Game of children intent on harvesting grain (Allegory of Summer) Mid-18th century Oil on canvas 97 x 129 cm - Framed cm. 112 x 14...
    Category

    18th Century Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Van Uden Landscape Paint Oil on table 17th Century Flemish school Old master Art
    Located in Riva del Garda, IT
    Lucas Van Uden (Antwerp 1595 - Antwerp 1673) Signed lower right: (Lucas v. ud...) Hillside landscape with pond oil on wood panel 34 x 54 cm, with frame 51 x 71 cm. Work published ...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Christ St. Peter De Matteis Paint Oil on canvas 17/18 Century Old master Italy
    Located in Riva del Garda, IT
    Paolo De Matteis (Naples, 1662 - Naples, 1728) attributed to Christ Delivering the Keys to St. Peter (Handing over the Keys) Oil on canvas 88 x 138 cm./ Framed 98 x 149 cm. The pro...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Winter Landscape Foschi Paint 18th CEntury Paint Oil on canvas Old master Italy
    Located in Riva del Garda, IT
    Francesco Foschi (Ancona, 1710 - Rome, 1780) Attributable Winter landscape Oil on canvas 76 x 63 cm. - In frame 87 x 75 cm. The compositional and stylistic elements of this pleasan...
    Category

    18th Century Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Battle Horsemen Landscape Graziani Paint Oil on canvas 17th Century Old master
    Located in Riva del Garda, IT
    Francesco Graziani, known as Ciccio Napoletano (active in Naples and Rome in the second half of the 17th century) Battle with clash of horsemen Oil on canvas 95 x 130 cm In period ...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

You May Also Like
  • Grand 19th Century English Marine Painting in Stunning Light
    By John Wilson Ewbank
    Located in London, GB
    John Wilson Ewbank (1799 - 1847) Shipping in the Harbour, South Shields Oil on canvas 39.5 x 58 inches unframed 47.75 x 66.5 inches framed Provenance: Christie's October 2002; Lot 11. Fine Art Society; Private Collection This marvellous up to scale Ewbank is full of light and warmth and almost certainly his greatest work of the sort rarely - if ever - seen on the market. John W. Ewbank (4 May 1799–28 November 1847), was an English-born landscape and marine painter largely operational from Scotland. The Humber river is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. Life Ewbank was born at Darlington on 4 May 1799, the son of Michael Ewbank, an innkeeper. He was adopted as a child by a wealthy uncle who lived at Wycliffe, on the banks of the River Tees, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Intended for the Roman Catholic priesthood, he was sent to Ushaw College, from which he absconded. In 1813 Ewbank was apprenticed to Thomas Coulson, an ornamental painter in Newcastle. In around 1816 he moved with Coulson to Edinburgh, where he had some lessons with Alexander Nasmyth. He found work both as a painter and a teacher. He was nominated in 1830 one of the foundation members of the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1833 he is listed as living at 7 Union Street on the eastern fringe of the New Town in Edinburgh. Works His sketches from nature were especially admired, and a series of 51 drawings of Edinburgh by him were engraved by W. H. Lizars for James Browne's Picturesque Views of Edinburgh (1825). He also made a reputation with cabinet pictures of banks of rivers, coast scenes, and marine subjects. As an illustrator he illustrated some early editions of Scott's Waverley Novels and one edition of Gilbert White...
    Category

    19th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Important 18th Century Royal Academy Old Master Oil Painting of Georgian London
    Located in Gerrards Cross, GB
    ‘St. James’ Day’ by Richard Morton Paye (1750-1820). This very large and important 18th century oil on canvas depicts a diverse crowd of Londoners at an oyster stand on a summer’s ev...
    Category

    1780s Old Masters Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Allegory of Abundance
    Located in New York, NY
    Painted in collaboration with Hendrick van Balen (Antwerp, 1575 – 1632). Provenance: Private Collection, Uruguay, since the 1930s. The eldest son of Jan Br...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Copper

  • A Wolf
    Located in New York, NY
    Provenance: The Marchesi Strozzi, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence Sale, Christie’s, London, May 20, 1993, lot 315, as by Carl Borromaus Andreas Ruthart...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Animal Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Canvas, Oil

  • River Landscape with a Windmill and Chapel
    By Jan Josefsz Van Goyen
    Located in Palm Desert, CA
    "River Landscape with a Windmill and Chapel" is a painting by Dutch Old Master Painter, Jan van Goyen. There are traces of a signature on the bow of the boat...
    Category

    1640s Old Masters Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Panel, Oil

  • Early oil depicting the Great Fire of London
    Located in London, GB
    The Great Fire of London in September 1666 was one of the greatest disasters in the city’s history. The City, with its wooden houses crowded together in narrow streets, was a natural fire risk, and predictions that London would burn down became a shocking reality. The fire began in a bakery in Pudding Lane, an area near the Thames teeming with warehouses and shops full of flammable materials, such as timber, oil, coal, pitch and turpentine. Inevitably the fire spread rapidly from this area into the City. Our painting depicts the impact of the fire on those who were caught in it and creates a very dramatic impression of what the fire was like. Closer inspection reveals a scene of chaos and panic with people running out of the gates. It shows Cripplegate in the north of the City, with St Giles without Cripplegate to its left, in flames (on the site of the present day Barbican). The painting probably represents the fire on the night of Tuesday 4 September, when four-fifths of the City was burning at once, including St Paul's Cathedral. Old St Paul’s can be seen to the right of the canvas, the medieval church with its thick stone walls, was considered a place of safety, but the building was covered in wooden scaffolding as it was in the midst of being restored by the then little known architect, Christopher Wren and caught fire. Our painting seems to depict a specific moment on the Tuesday night when the lead on St Paul’s caught fire and, as the diarist John Evelyn described: ‘the stones of Paul’s flew like grenades, the melting lead running down the streets in a stream and the very pavements glowing with the firey redness, so as no horse, nor man, was able to tread on them.’ Although the loss of life was minimal, some accounts record only sixteen perished, the magnitude of the property loss was shocking – some four hundred and thirty acres, about eighty per cent of the City proper was destroyed, including over thirteen thousand houses, eighty-nine churches, and fifty-two Guild Halls. Thousands were homeless and financially ruined. The Great Fire, and the subsequent fire of 1676, which destroyed over six hundred houses south of the Thames, changed the appearance of London forever. The one constructive outcome of the Great Fire was that the plague, which had devastated the population of London since 1665, diminished greatly, due to the mass death of the plague-carrying rats in the blaze. The fire was widely reported in eyewitness accounts, newspapers, letters and diaries. Samuel Pepys recorded climbing the steeple of Barking Church from which he viewed the destroyed City: ‘the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw.’ There was an official enquiry into the causes of the fire, petitions to the King and Lord Mayor to rebuild, new legislation and building Acts. Naturally, the fire became a dramatic and extremely popular subject for painters and engravers. A group of works relatively closely related to the present picture have been traditionally ascribed to Jan Griffier...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

Recently Viewed

View All