Lot 21 | Gortzius Geldorp | Allegory of Love (Venus and Cupid?)

GELDORP, GORTZIUS
1553 Löwen - 1618 Cologne

Title: Allegory of Love (Venus and Cupid?).
Technique: Oil on wood.
Mounting: Parquetted.
Measurement: 68,5 x 51cm.
Notation: Monogrammed and dated upper right: An 1610 / GGF.
Frame: Framed.
Verso: An old label on the panel: "No. 86 Gualdorp Gorzius / Cleopatre se laissant piquer le sein par / un aspic."

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Gortzius Geldorp was a portrait and history painter of Flemish origin but active in the final phase of his life in Cologne.
Trained in Antwerp, Gortzius was employed by the Duke of Terranuova, Charles of Aragon, whom he accompanied regularly on his official travels, including to Cologne in 1579 for peace negotiations with the Netherlands. Accompanying a painter was a tradition of the time, and artists during such trips recorded in their notebooks impressions, people and places. Until d'Aragon's death around 1618, Gortzius remained his faithful companion, although he moved his residence from Antwerp to Cologne.
In 1610, Gortzius Geldorp succeeded Bartholomäus Bruyn the Younger on the Cologne City Council. Connected to this decisive year in the Artist's career and social role is the present painting, which shows the artist's monogram and the date "An 1610 / GGF" on the upper right.