Bernhard Keil, called Monsù Bernardo

(Elsinore 1624-1687 Rome)

Concerto Campestre

Footnotes

Provenance
The Zoccoli Collection, Rome, by 1922, thence by descent until acquired from the Gambigliani-Zoccoli family in 1986 by the present owner's father

Exhibited
Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Mostra della pittura del Seicento e Settecento, 1922

Literature
Bestetti and Tumminelli, Mostra della pittura del Seicento e Settecento, Florence, 1922, cat. no. 23c (as Antonio Amorosi)
H. Voss, Die Malerei des Barock in Rom, Rome, 1925, p. 638 (as Antonio Amorosi)
R. Longhi, 'Monsù Bernardo', in La Critica d'Arte, Florence, August-December 1938, p. 126, pl. 86, fig. 16, ill
M. Heimbürger, Bernardo Keilhau, detto Monsù Bernardo, Rome, 1988, p. 232, cat. no. 158, ill. p. 232


The son of a German painter from Meissen and his Dutch wife, Eberhard Caspersen Keilhau was born at Elsinore in Denmark, presumably in 1624. He received his initial training in his native country but later, through his mother's contacts, he was able to secure a place in Rembrandt's studio so in 1642 he moved to Amsterdam where he remained for two years. By 1651 he had moved to Venice and three years later, by invitation of a member of the Savorgnan family, Eberhard - now known as Bernardo – moved to Bergamo. He then briefly sojourned in Milan before setting out for Rome where he settled for the rest of his life, despite intending to stay only a few months. This peripatetic existence led to the young artist absorbing the artistic influence of a wide range of painters, from Domenico Fetti (Rome 1589-1623 Venice) to Michel Sweerts (Brussels 1618- 1664 Goa).

The present work was executed during the artist's Roman period in the last sixteen years of his life. His later, Roman paintings, marked by their more elaborate compositions, are populated by more figures and, consequently, are often on a larger scale compared to his earlier works. In her catalogue entry for the Concerto Campestre, Heimbürger has suggested that it may also be interpreted as an Allegory of Hearing.