Vincenzo Campi

VINCENZO CAMPI, PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN WITH HIS SON, INSCRIBED, OIL ON CANVAS
Marco Tanzi recognised this charming portrayal of a father and son as a rare portrait by the Cremonese painter Vincenzo Campi (1536-1591) in 1996 (M. Tanzi, 1996, op. cit. supra). Campi is best known today for having responded to the pictorial language of Pieter Aertsen (1508-1575) and Joachim Beuckelaer (c. 1533-1570/1574) in his genre paintings, the most famous being four large-scale canvases in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan (The chicken seller, The fishmongers, The vegetable seller and The kitchen interior). Campi’s work as a portraitist has been little studied. It is known that in 1563, when the two brothers Rudolf (1552-1612) and Ernest (1553-1595) of Augsburg passed through Cremona of their way to Spain, it was Vincenzo who painted their portraits. The pictures are now lost but Antonio Campi (1522-1587) wrote a few years later: ‘ancor che avesse così poco tempo di vedergli, furono nondimeno giudicati da tutti universalmente bellissimi’ [even though he had so little time to see them, they were nevertheless judged by all to be universally beautiful] (A. Campi, Cremona fedelissima…, Cremona, 1585, ed. 1645, p. XLV). This remark confirms that Campi was more than an occasional portraitist.
Tanzi compared this painting with a Portrait of Giulio Boccamazzo (Accademia Carrara, Bergamo), which is signed by Campi and dated ‘1569’. Characterised by a strong naturalism, the portrait in Bergamo demonstrates that Vincenzo followed less the idealised style of his fellow citizens Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532-1625) and Bernardino Campi (1522-1591), looking instead towards the Veneto, to Bassano (1510-1592), Savoldo (1480-1540) and perhaps Moroni (c. 1520-1578), as well as towards Emilia. The confident pose and positioning of the sitter in this portrait can also be compared with the Portrait of Leonardo de’ Rossi, attributed to the artist by Professor Mina Gregori in 1991 (‘Note su Vincenzo Campi pittore di naturalia e su alcuni precendenti’, Paragone, XVII, 501, 1966, p. 70; Sotheby’s, London, 4 July 1990, lot 97). The small note acts as a reminder of the transience of life: ‘memento quod cinis est’ [remember we are ashes].
At the time of the 2016 sale Marco Tanzi confirmed the attribution to Vincenzo Campi and assisted in the cataloguing of the lot, for which we are grateful.
- Collection particulière, Crémone. | Vente anonyme, Christie's, Londres, 8 décembre 2016, lot 22 (comme 'Vincenzo Campi') ; d'où aquis par la propriétaire actuel.