Lot Essay
The significance of the Vicentine specialist in architectural capricci, Francesco Aviani, as a precursor of the eighteenth- century Venetian vogue for paintings of imaginary classical buildings and ruins has been observed by Rodolfo Pallucchini (La pittura veneziana del Settecento, Venice and Rome, 1960, p. 206). Carpioni, Venetian by birth, moved to Vicenza in 1638, and, but for four years in Verona, spent the rest of his life there. Since he died when Aviani was only fifteen or sixteen years old, it is hardly surprising that only one other work executed in collaboration by the two artists is known. Showing The Muses flying from the Palace of Pyreneus, this is mentioned by P. Baldarini (Descrizione delle architetture, pitture e sculture in Vicenza, Vicenza, 1779, II, p. 61) as the work of Aviani and Carpioni. Then in the palace of Count Fabrizio Franco at S. Domenico, Vicenza, it is last recorded in the collection of Professore Fausto Franco in Venice (G.M. Pilo, Carpioni, Venice, 1961, p. 114, figs. 165-7). The two paintings are closely related in style and composition and are of identical height, suggesting that they may originally have formed part of the same decorative scheme.
The subject may be Cupid abandoning Psyche after her Discovery of his Identity but the duplication of the figure of Cupid is difficult to explain and the scene is usually depicted with Psyche attempting to catch Cupid's leg as he flies out of the palace window.
The subject may be Cupid abandoning Psyche after her Discovery of his Identity but the duplication of the figure of Cupid is difficult to explain and the scene is usually depicted with Psyche attempting to catch Cupid's leg as he flies out of the palace window.