Ricordi van drie deurstukken met landschappen en een zee

About this artwork

pen in bruin

Art Historical Context

This delicate pen drawing in brown ink by Carlo Antonio Tavella, created between 1693 and 1708, offers a fascinating glimpse into the artist’s process. Titled “Ricordi van drie deurstukken met landschappen en een zee,” the work records ideas for three door panels featuring landscapes and a seascape. At just 290 by 203 millimeters, the compact sheet was likely intended as a personal reference rather than a finished piece, allowing Tavella to quickly capture compositions that would later be translated into larger painted decorations. Tavella’s use of the pen medium highlights the expressive potential of line work for landscape studies. Swift, fluid strokes could suggest atmospheric effects and spatial depth, essential when planning decorative elements meant to integrate with architecture. Such ricordi, or “memories,” were common tools for artists working on site-specific commissions, preserving visual ideas for future use. Measuring roughly the size of a small notebook page, this drawing underscores the intimate, practical side of Baroque-era artistic production. It invites viewers to appreciate not only the final paintings that may have resulted but also the quiet, inventive moments behind them.

About the Artist

Carlo Antonio Tavella · 1668–1738

**Carlo Antonio Tavella** (1668–1738) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Genoa. Born in Milan as the son of Domenico Tavella, a Genoese merchant, he trained initially under the painter Giuseppe Merati before studying with Johann Gruembroech (also known as Greuenbrech or il Solfarolo). In 1695 he collaborated with the Dutch painter Pieter Mulier II, known as Cavaliere Te...