SALUCCI, Alessandro - b. 1590 Firenze, d. ~1657 Roma

Italian painter, specialized in imaginary architectural perspectives and harbour views, in which the figures were executed by other artists, most notably Jan Miel and Michelangelo Cerquozzi. His pictures were praised by contemporary and near contemporary writers, and during the 17th century were popular with private collectors in both Florence and Rome. However, many of the paintings mentioned in contemporary sources remain untraced.

He is first documented in Rome in 1628, when, with Andrea Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona, he worked on the fresco decorations of the Villa Sacchetti (now Chigi), Castelfusano (near Ostia), to which he contributed personifications of the River Nile and the River Rhône. He became a member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome in 1634, and after 1635 he was engaged on frescoes depicting sacred subjects in S Maria in Vallicella, Rome. From the mid-1630s onward Salucci collaborated with Miel on the imaginary architectural subjects for which he is best known. The two artists also collaborated between 1640 and 1645 on a series of four important Imaginary Architectural Perspectives. His most typical paintings date from c. 1650-60.

Harbour View with Triumphal Arch

A monumental triumphal arch, not unlike that of Constantine, dominates the middle ground of this harbour view. To the right stands a tall, somewhat dilapidated building with classical ornaments. The foreground is crowded with figures. On the left is a panorama of the harbour with a tower in the distance. The strong light coming from that direction creates sharp contrasts: the dark mass of the arch stands out against the evening sky, while the play of light and shade enlivens the fa�ade of the structure on the right.

The painting is a classic example of the imaginary views of southern harbours which became popular in the seventeenth century. The Florentine Alessandro Salucci was one of the first artists to specialize in this genre, together with his “Italianate” colleagues from Holland such as Jan Baptist Weenix, Jan Lingelbach and Claes Berchem. The Frenchman Claude Lorrain, whose influence on Salucci is obvious, also experimented with the genre a number of times. Works such as this were important to Luca Carlevaris, who began his artistic career by painting harbour scenes. Salucci’s rhythmically composed harbour views may have inspired Canaletto’s early pictures of ruins as well.

It is generally agreed that the figures in the painting are by the hand of Jan Miel, a Dutch artist with whom Salucci often collaborated.