JOHN GREVENBROECK known as THE SOLFAROL (active between 1667 - 1695) Burning of a City Oil on canvas, 21.7X35.5 cm Provenance: Milan, private collection Bibliography: F. Dassie, I Grevenbroeck, Verona 2019, pp. 48-49, no. 20 The painting has been attributed to the hand of Giovanni Grevenbroeck by Fabrizio Dassie. The painter was the progenitor of a family of artists originally from the Netherlands, but active in Italy and whose members were Orazio (Milan, 1676 ; Naples, 1739), Alessandro (late 17th century ; Venice, post 1748) and Carlo Leopoldo (Milan, late 17th century ; Naples, post 1757). Our painter, as we know, was active in Rome, receiving various commissions from the Colonna family, but from 1672 he moved to Milan where he earned the nickname Solfarolo 'because of a certain genius of his for painting views of countries that burn' and Carlo Antonio Tavella trained in his workshop (C. G. Ratti, Delle Vite de Pittori Scultori ed Architetti genovesi Tomo Secondo..., Genova 1769, p. 199). In the city of Lombardy, Grevenbroeck enjoyed considerable success and not a few of his works are mentioned in the inventories of the time, including works in the d'Adda collection and the Trivulzio picture gallery (cf. Dassie, p. 48, no. 20).