(Salzburg 1604–1698 Venice)
A Mediterranean harbor with ruins and figures,
oil on canvas, 63 x 103 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Bonhams London, 6 July 2005, lot 169;
with Art Collector, Pisa;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot. We are also grateful to Giancarlo Sestieri for independently confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original.

This previously unpublished picture is a work by the paesaggista Johann Eis(en)mann, who was born in Salzburg and stayed for some time in Vienna, where he might have been inspired by the landscape artist Hans de Jode. It seems, however, that the artist lived in Italy for most of his career. Little is known of his life. He is called ‘Eismann’ in the literature, but there are strong indications that his real name was Eisenmann: as a witness, he signed the testament of the painter Bernardo Strozzi as ‘Giovanni homo di Ferro’, and it is as Eisenmann that he spelled his name on a drawing in the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, California).

The present painting is an example of Eis(en)mann’s idealised coastal views, which evoke a Mediterranean atmosphere, with a classical ruin in the foreground. It would seem that the artist was particularly successful in Venice with this type of picture and his work anticipates the great era of Venetian landscape and vedute painting of the 18th century, and the works of Luca Carlevarijs and Marco Ricci.