Lot 48: Gabriel Engels (Hamburg 1592-1654) A palace courtyard

A palace courtyard with elegant figures
signed with initials 'GE.D' (lower left)
oil on canvas
66.8 x 84.8cm (26 5/16 x 33 3/8in).

PROVENANCE:
Sale, Sotheby's London, 11 July 2002, lot 149 (as Jacob Ferdinand Saeys)
Sale, Bukowski's, Stockholm, 3 December, 2002, lot 489 (as Jacob Ferdinand Saeys)
Sale, Crafoord Auktioner, Lund, 25 April, 2009, lot 36 (as Italianensk Skola) Scool

The present painting uses the same palace as that depicted in the work by Engels now in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (see Hans Vredeman de Vries und die Renaissance im Norden, (Munich, 2002), p.352, cat. no. 190, illus. p. 351). The composition is slightly wider than the Copenhagen version and with differing figures.

Active in Hamburg for much of his career, Engels also travelled to England, Italy, France and Brabant. His output consisted mainly of architectural perspectives for the mercantile population of his native city although he is also known to have executed such works for Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp and his son Christian Albrecht. As a result, a group of his works can be found both in Schloß Rosenborg and in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen.