拍品專文
The present picture, eloquently described by Nicolson, loc. cit., 1959, as 'a group of young lovers tiresomely reminded of the transitory nature of youth and pleasure by the appearance of Death in the form of a skeleton holding out an hour-glass', forms part of a group of paintings related in composition and style which have proved particularly resistant to convincing attribution. These include three variants of the present composition extended to the left to include additional figures, in the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, and in private collections in Bergamo and Florence (Nicolson, op. cit., 1990, figs. 360, 362 and 364). Another painting in the group which was in the collection of Roberto Longhi until its disappearance during the Second World War, was recorded by Longhi as signed with the initials 'DC F', which he interpreted as representing the signature of Jean Ducamps (Giovanni del Campo), a pupil of Abraham Janssens in Antwerp who became a founder member of the Bentvueghels in Rome and died in Spain sometime after 1628. This attribution was adopted by Spear, loc. cit., and by Nicolson, loc. cit., 1979.
The painting in Bergamo is one of a pair signed 'DC' which have been identified as the work of Domenico Carpinoni of Clusone (see, for instance, the catalogue of the exhibition Il Seicento a Bergamo, Bergamo, 26 Sept.-29 Nov. 1987, pp. 244-5, nos. 67-8, both illustrated). Carpinoni is recorded as a copyist and a plagiarist, which indicates that these pictures attest to the popularity of the prototypes and offer no solution to the problem of their invention, for which recent research has increasingly pointed to Florence, where a version of the present composition is recorded in the inventory of Cardinal Giovan Carlo de'Medici's collection as early as 1637.
Giovanni Cantelli's attribution of the versions of the present picture in New Orleans and Florence to Giovanni Martinelli (G. Cantelli, Repertorio della Pittura Fiorentina del Seicento, Fiesole, 1983, pp. 107-8 and pl. 543) has recently been endorsed by Chiara d'Afflitto, see, for instance, the catalogue of the exhibition Il Seicento Fiorentino. Arte a Firenze da Ferdinando I a Cosimo III: Pittura, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 21 Dec. 1986-4 May 1987, p. 327, where she points out their strong stylistic similarities with Martinelli's Violin Player and Spinet Player now divided between the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Musées d'Art, Clermont Ferrand (op. cit., nos. 1.169-70, both illustrated, the former in colour and on the dustcover). Similarities between the heads and gestures of the girl on the left in the present picture and in that at Atlanta are particularly striking. The inaccessibility of the present painting, which has not been seen in public since its purchase by the late husband of the present owner in 1961, has resulted in its omission from recent discussion. Although some qualitative disparities in the group of pictures are yet to be explained, the present work would seem to be at least as close as any of the paintings, in quality and handling, to the Atlanta-Clermont Ferrand pair; indeed, in 1960 Nicolson, loc. cit., considered the New Orleans picture to be a copy of this one.
The painting in Bergamo is one of a pair signed 'DC' which have been identified as the work of Domenico Carpinoni of Clusone (see, for instance, the catalogue of the exhibition Il Seicento a Bergamo, Bergamo, 26 Sept.-29 Nov. 1987, pp. 244-5, nos. 67-8, both illustrated). Carpinoni is recorded as a copyist and a plagiarist, which indicates that these pictures attest to the popularity of the prototypes and offer no solution to the problem of their invention, for which recent research has increasingly pointed to Florence, where a version of the present composition is recorded in the inventory of Cardinal Giovan Carlo de'Medici's collection as early as 1637.
Giovanni Cantelli's attribution of the versions of the present picture in New Orleans and Florence to Giovanni Martinelli (G. Cantelli, Repertorio della Pittura Fiorentina del Seicento, Fiesole, 1983, pp. 107-8 and pl. 543) has recently been endorsed by Chiara d'Afflitto, see, for instance, the catalogue of the exhibition Il Seicento Fiorentino. Arte a Firenze da Ferdinando I a Cosimo III: Pittura, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 21 Dec. 1986-4 May 1987, p. 327, where she points out their strong stylistic similarities with Martinelli's Violin Player and Spinet Player now divided between the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Musées d'Art, Clermont Ferrand (op. cit., nos. 1.169-70, both illustrated, the former in colour and on the dustcover). Similarities between the heads and gestures of the girl on the left in the present picture and in that at Atlanta are particularly striking. The inaccessibility of the present painting, which has not been seen in public since its purchase by the late husband of the present owner in 1961, has resulted in its omission from recent discussion. Although some qualitative disparities in the group of pictures are yet to be explained, the present work would seem to be at least as close as any of the paintings, in quality and handling, to the Atlanta-Clermont Ferrand pair; indeed, in 1960 Nicolson, loc. cit., considered the New Orleans picture to be a copy of this one.