CORNELIS DE WAEL (Antwerp, 1592 - Rome, 1667) Procession with the Martyrdom of St. Andrew and the Lantern in the background Oil on canvas, 57X97 cm Provenance: Private collection Cornelis de Wael trained in his father's workshop between the first and second decade of the 17th century and together with his brother Luca undertook an educational trip to Italy, reaching Rome and then moving to Genoa around 1619. Their home was a real logistical base for the many Flemish artists who reached the peninsula: first and foremost Antoon van Dyck who found hospitality with his compatriots in 1621. Apart from a few trips to Rome, Cornelio lived permanently in Genoa throughout his career. In 1630 he was, in fact, taxed for the construction of the new walls and in 1642 he made an explicit request to the Republic to be able to declare himself a citizen of Genoa. The painting, although affected by dust and a yellowed varnish, finds precise correspondences with canvases known to us. Typical are the small figures and the fast pictorial handling, suggesting a realistic study of the scene depicted. The style, on the other hand, suggests a date to maturity due to the compositional direction, the meticulous rendering of the figures and the luministic effects that we find for example in the Works of Mercy. Also impressive is the perspective construction that reveals itself to be a real view, probably recognisable in the area of the Molo and near Porta Siberia. Reference bibliography: P. Donati, Le sette opere di misericordia di Cornelio de Wael, Genoa 1988, pp. 24-26 C. Di Fabio, Due generazioni di pittori fiamminghi a Genova (1602-1657) e la bottega di Cornelis de Wael, in Van Dyck a Genova. Grande pittura e collezionismo, exhibition catalogue edited by S. J. Barnes, P. Boccardo, C. Di Fabio, L. Tagliaferro, Milan 1997, pp. 82-104 A. Orlando, La pittura con scene di genere a Genova. Da Cornelis de Wael ad Alessandro Magnasco, in Da Caravaggio a Ceruti: la scena di genere e l'immagine dei pitocchi nella pittura italiana, exhibition catalogue edited by F. Porzio, Milan 1999, p. 390. E. Marcenaro, Misure, cortei e banchetti come scenografie di ricchezza, in Bollettino dei musei civici genovesi, no. 67, v. 23, 2001, p. 57, n. 14 A. Orlando, Dal Nord a Genova: pittura fiamminga-genovese nel Seicento in P. Boccardo, C. Di Fabio, Genova e l'Europa atlantica: Inghilterra, Fiandre, Portogallo: opere, artisti, committenti, collezionisti, Milano 2006, p. 199, fig. 13