Lot Essay
The present drawing is a study for the figure of Aurora on her chariot, one of the allegorical groups painted on the vault of the Stanza dell'Aria, commissioned by Prince Don Camillo Pamphili for his palace in Valmontone, near Rome (fig. 1), N. Spinosa, La pittura napoletana del' 600, Milan, 1984, no. 574, illustrated.
In mid-1658 Don Camillo Pamphili asked Pier Francesco Mola to decorate the Sala dell'Aria, but before the end of the year Mola stopped work: he claimed that the contract had been only verbal and that nothing had been signed. Mola then filed a lawsuit against Pamphili to claim payment for what he had already done, L. Montalto, Gli Affreschi del Palazzo Pamphili in Valmontone, Commentari, 1955, p. 300. Records indicate that by 14 March 1659 the painter Francesco Cozza was probably asked to complete the decoration, but his and Mola's frescoes were very soon plastered over and the commission was subsequently awarded to Mattia Preti. The contract between Preti and Don Camillo Pamphili was not signed before 17 March 1661, R. Cocke, Pier Francesco Mola, Oxford, 1972, pp. 4-6.
The subject of the cycle of frescoes was the element of Air. Preti painted Aurora, Apollo, Diana and Luna, respectively representing Morning, Day, Evening and Night between allegories of Fortune, Time, Fame and Love.
In mid-1658 Don Camillo Pamphili asked Pier Francesco Mola to decorate the Sala dell'Aria, but before the end of the year Mola stopped work: he claimed that the contract had been only verbal and that nothing had been signed. Mola then filed a lawsuit against Pamphili to claim payment for what he had already done, L. Montalto, Gli Affreschi del Palazzo Pamphili in Valmontone, Commentari, 1955, p. 300. Records indicate that by 14 March 1659 the painter Francesco Cozza was probably asked to complete the decoration, but his and Mola's frescoes were very soon plastered over and the commission was subsequently awarded to Mattia Preti. The contract between Preti and Don Camillo Pamphili was not signed before 17 March 1661, R. Cocke, Pier Francesco Mola, Oxford, 1972, pp. 4-6.
The subject of the cycle of frescoes was the element of Air. Preti painted Aurora, Apollo, Diana and Luna, respectively representing Morning, Day, Evening and Night between allegories of Fortune, Time, Fame and Love.