Lot Essay
These two paintings, signed and respectively dated to 1793 and 1792, were evidently conceived as pendants. Their early provenance is undocumented. They were first recorded as a pair in the 1935 landmark exhibition catalogue of eighteenth century Bolognese painting (Longhi-Zucchini, op. cit.) as being in the collection of Emma Sonino-Castelfranco in Bologna, with whose heirs they have remained. They were discussed further by Lidia Bianchi in her useful 1936 monograph on the three Gandolfi (op. cit.) after which they disappeared from view.
They are typical of Gaetano's paintings of the early 1790s. He had undertaken a six month trip to England in late 1787, with a brief stop in Paris, returning at some point in 1788. The trip marked a major turning point in his career, prompting him to move from the antiquated tradition of Bolognese classicism toward Neoclassicism, particularly as it was unfolding in England. Here Gaetano shows an awareness of the moral content of the new movement, though it was not until the later 1790s that he grasped its rigorous style. In this pair he is still in the grip of late Bolognese rococo, depending on rhetorical gesture and exaggerated poses for dramatic effect.
A black chalk preparatory study by Gaetano for Alexander and Diogenes was on the Bolognese art market in 1979 (see C. Bersani and C. Bonavia, in the catalogue of the exhibition Disegni del '7000 bolognese: Mostra mercato regionale dell' antiquriato di Bologna, III, Bologna, Palazzo Re Enzo, March 10-25, 1979, no. 48, pl. 48). This drawing agrees with the painting in all respects except that it lacks the small servant figure in the lower right. Another black chalk study for the figure of Alexander, with details of the banner-bearing soldier, is in a private collection in Bologna (see Cazort in the catalogue of the exhibition, L'Arte del Settecento emiliano: La pittura, L'Accademia Clementina, Bologna, Palazzi del Podesta e di Re Enzo, Sept. 8-Nov. 25, 1979, no. 282, pl. 292).
Gaetano's son Mauro (1764-1834) listed a reproductive engraving, "Diogene ed Alessandro, sesto grande, da un quadro di G. Gandolfi" among the works he claimed to have done before 1795 in his manuscript autobiography published by a descendant (A. Zanotti, op. cit., p. 389; also listed in Aloys Apell, Handbuch fur Kupferstichsammler, Leipzig, 1880, no. 17). A black chalk study by Mauro for this print, in reverse and with different gestures, is in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna (Inv. no. 3596; see Cazort, op. cit., no. 309, pl. 308).
Another painting, identical in composition to Alexander and Diogenes, though differing in details, recently appeared in Zurich, and was published by both Bagni (op. cit., 1990) and Biagi Maino (op. cit.) as being the missing Sonino version. Biagi Maino suggests a collaboration between Mauro and Gaetano for this painting, but its slick finish and brash color suggest Mauro's hand throughout, a copy after his father's freer and more subtlely colored original of 1792.
Gaetano chose to feature Alexander's humanity and compassion rather than his bellicosity in both these paintings. in the Alexander and Diogenes, the great conqueror accepts Diogenes' brusque request that he stop blocking the sunlight from the philosopher's wooden tub that served as his home. In the Alexander Presenting Campaspe to Apelles, the young hero rewards his favorite artist with the gift of his first Greek mistress Campaspe, whose likeness Apelles is painting, thus setting a standard for patronly generosity. Alexander and Campaspe are shown in classical dress, but the painter is shown as an eighteenth century artist in a humble bottega, his assistant grinding pigment in the background. There is a grander version of this painting (Bagni, 1992, op. cit., p. 434, no. 410), datable to 1797 by a signed and dated black chalk preparatory study in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (ibid., p. 435, no. 411). It is one of a series of four exemplum virtutis subjects, and shows Gaetano's fully developed neoclassicism (see Cazort, Bella Pittura: The Art of the Gandolfi, 1994, no. 63).
The present pair may have been intended as bozzetti. Gaetano often prepared finished oil studies for his larger final commissions, and the present paintings agree in size and style with these. The emphasis on the drawn line, usually done in wet brown paint, is clearly visible in these paintings as is the sure touch in modelling of figure and drapery.
We are grateful to Dr. Mimi Cazort for the above catalogue entry.
They are typical of Gaetano's paintings of the early 1790s. He had undertaken a six month trip to England in late 1787, with a brief stop in Paris, returning at some point in 1788. The trip marked a major turning point in his career, prompting him to move from the antiquated tradition of Bolognese classicism toward Neoclassicism, particularly as it was unfolding in England. Here Gaetano shows an awareness of the moral content of the new movement, though it was not until the later 1790s that he grasped its rigorous style. In this pair he is still in the grip of late Bolognese rococo, depending on rhetorical gesture and exaggerated poses for dramatic effect.
A black chalk preparatory study by Gaetano for Alexander and Diogenes was on the Bolognese art market in 1979 (see C. Bersani and C. Bonavia, in the catalogue of the exhibition Disegni del '7000 bolognese: Mostra mercato regionale dell' antiquriato di Bologna, III, Bologna, Palazzo Re Enzo, March 10-25, 1979, no. 48, pl. 48). This drawing agrees with the painting in all respects except that it lacks the small servant figure in the lower right. Another black chalk study for the figure of Alexander, with details of the banner-bearing soldier, is in a private collection in Bologna (see Cazort in the catalogue of the exhibition, L'Arte del Settecento emiliano: La pittura, L'Accademia Clementina, Bologna, Palazzi del Podesta e di Re Enzo, Sept. 8-Nov. 25, 1979, no. 282, pl. 292).
Gaetano's son Mauro (1764-1834) listed a reproductive engraving, "Diogene ed Alessandro, sesto grande, da un quadro di G. Gandolfi" among the works he claimed to have done before 1795 in his manuscript autobiography published by a descendant (A. Zanotti, op. cit., p. 389; also listed in Aloys Apell, Handbuch fur Kupferstichsammler, Leipzig, 1880, no. 17). A black chalk study by Mauro for this print, in reverse and with different gestures, is in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna (Inv. no. 3596; see Cazort, op. cit., no. 309, pl. 308).
Another painting, identical in composition to Alexander and Diogenes, though differing in details, recently appeared in Zurich, and was published by both Bagni (op. cit., 1990) and Biagi Maino (op. cit.) as being the missing Sonino version. Biagi Maino suggests a collaboration between Mauro and Gaetano for this painting, but its slick finish and brash color suggest Mauro's hand throughout, a copy after his father's freer and more subtlely colored original of 1792.
Gaetano chose to feature Alexander's humanity and compassion rather than his bellicosity in both these paintings. in the Alexander and Diogenes, the great conqueror accepts Diogenes' brusque request that he stop blocking the sunlight from the philosopher's wooden tub that served as his home. In the Alexander Presenting Campaspe to Apelles, the young hero rewards his favorite artist with the gift of his first Greek mistress Campaspe, whose likeness Apelles is painting, thus setting a standard for patronly generosity. Alexander and Campaspe are shown in classical dress, but the painter is shown as an eighteenth century artist in a humble bottega, his assistant grinding pigment in the background. There is a grander version of this painting (Bagni, 1992, op. cit., p. 434, no. 410), datable to 1797 by a signed and dated black chalk preparatory study in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (ibid., p. 435, no. 411). It is one of a series of four exemplum virtutis subjects, and shows Gaetano's fully developed neoclassicism (see Cazort, Bella Pittura: The Art of the Gandolfi, 1994, no. 63).
The present pair may have been intended as bozzetti. Gaetano often prepared finished oil studies for his larger final commissions, and the present paintings agree in size and style with these. The emphasis on the drawn line, usually done in wet brown paint, is clearly visible in these paintings as is the sure touch in modelling of figure and drapery.
We are grateful to Dr. Mimi Cazort for the above catalogue entry.