Landscape with Ducks

Author: Gert Jan van der Sman

Franz Koenigs acquired this drawing as the work of Francesco Bissolo (1470-1554) in 1929. Heinemann accepted this in his standard work on the followers of Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430-1516) (1962), but without going into the drawing style and the possible place of the work in the artist’s oeuvre.

At present there is only one known drawing that can be securely attributed to Bissolo. It is a portrait study of the donor of the altarpiece with St Justina, John the Baptist and St Barbara in Treviso Cathedral.^[1] A second drawing associated with this altarpiece is attributed sometimes to Bissolo, then again to Lorenzo Luzzo (c.1467-1512).^[2] It shows the three saints against the background of gently sloping hills. The outline of the hills and the foliage of the vegetation on the sheet in question are drawn with short, sharp lines. The execution of the landscape thus differs considerably from that in the Rotterdam drawing, which is characterized by a loose manner.

In 1963 Curtis O. Baer put forward the possibility that the drawing discussed here was of a later date and was made by Agostino (1557-1602) or Annibale Carracci (1560-1609).^[3] The swift, cursory rendition does indeed indicate a date of around 1590-1600. However, the handling is not lively enough to justify an attribution to either of the Carracci brothers.