Monday, 13 March 2017

For "Campi", read " Ciampi"

Koller West, from Switzerland, sells on 29 March 2017 a "signed F. Campi" farm interior, estimated at 1,400 to 2,300 Euro.

The actual signature and artist is F. Ciampi, a good purely sentimental Romantic artist whose works are quite rare. Sotheby's Amsterdam sold one similar but smaller work in 2008 with an estimate of 4,000 to 6,000 Euro, or nearly three times the current estimate, making this one, which is perhaps slightly less charming and slightly less precise painted, quite cheap.


I was unable to find any information whatsoever on this artist otherwise, not even his first name. Perhaps it simply was the pseudonym for another artist who wanted to hide either how many paintings he produced (avoiding to flood the market) or who didn't want it to be known that next to his "serious" works he also produced this more "commercial" work to make a living. Both weren't unusual in the 19th century, but may make it hard to ever find out who painted these.

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