PIETRO PAOLINI* (1603-1681)

Details

PIETRO PAOLINI* (1603-1681)

Lute Players

signed with monogram 'PPL'--oil on canvas
39½ x 52½in. (100.3 x 133.4cm.)

Provenance

Count Czernin, Vienna before 1866
with Wildenstein and Co., Paris and New York, before 1960, from whom purchased by the museum in 1970

Literature

G.F. Waagen, Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien, 1866, I, p. 303, no. 52, as attributed to Valentin
H.W. Singer, ed., Allegemeines Kunstler lexikon, 1921, 4, p. 474 as Valentin
K. Wilczek, Katalog der Graf Czernin'schen Gemäldegalerie in Wien, 1936, p. 90, no. 53, illustrated, as Valentin
R. Longhi, A propos de Valentin, La Revue des Arts, 8, 1958, p. 63, as attributed to Adam de Coster
B. Nicolson, 'Figures at a table' at Sarasota, Burlington Magazine, 102, May 1960, p. 226, as attributed to or circle of Angelo Caroselli A. Ottani, Per un Caravaggesco Toscano: Pietro Paolini, Arte Antica e Moderna, 21, 1963, pp. 23-24, 34, note 11, plate 5c
A. Ottani, Integrazioni al catalogo del Paolini, Arte Antica e Moderna, April/June 1965, no. 30, pp. 181-182 A. Moir, The Italian Followers of Caravaggio, I, 1967, pp. 55, 56, 132, 221-222; II, p. 92, fig. 287
B. Fredericksen, Catalogue of the Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1972, p. 47, no. 47
B. Fredericksen, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1975, p. 96
W.J. Knoch, Count Czernin's Picture Gallery in Vienna, no. 53
B. Nicolson, The International Caravaggesque Movement, 1979, p. 77 R.W. Bissell, Orazio Gentileschi and the Poetic Tradition in Caravaggesque Painting, 1981, p. 159
M. Marini, Caravaggio e il naturalismo internazionale, in Federico Zeri, ed., Storia dell'arte italiana, 1981, pt. 2: Dal Medioevo al Novecento, 2, Dal Cinquecento all'Ottocento, 1981, 1, Cinquecento e Seicento, fig. 293
Mina Gregori, in the exhibition catalogue, The Age of Caravaggio/Caravaggio e il suo tempo, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, pp. 228-229, fig. 1, under no. 69
P.G. Maccari, Pietro Paolini, pittore luccese, 1601-1681, 1987, pp. 43, 45, 76-78, no. 2
E. Schleier, La pittura a Roma nel Seicento, in La pittura in Italia: Il Seicento, 1988, I, p. 429, fig. 643
Michael Douglas-Scott in the exhibition catalogue,Three Eyes, M. Bellamy, ed., London, Heim Gallery, 1990, p. 55 (entry by Michael Douglas-Scott)
B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, ed. L. Vertova, 1990, I, p. 368, and II, pl. 372
G. Williams, Pietro Paolini's 'Portrait of a Man Holding Dürer's Small Passion', Porticus: Journal of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 12-13, 1989-1990, pp. 36-37, 41, n. 11
A. Bayer, in the exhibition catalogue, A Caravaggio Rediscovered:The Lute Player, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 70-71, illustrated

Exhibited

Sarasota, Florida, Ringling Museum of Art , Figures at a Table, February, 1960, no. 26, as unknown Emilian artist
Columbus, Georgia, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Minor masters...Renaissance...Post-Renaissance, Jan. 12-Feb. 22, 1964, no. 12
Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The J. Paul Getty Collection, June 29-Sept. 3, 1972, no. 40, illustrated
Santa Ana, CA, Bowers Museum, exhibition, June-Sept. 1979
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, A Caravaggio Rediscovered: The Lute Player, Feb. 9- April 22, 1990, no. 13, pp. 70-71, illustrated

Lot Essay

The presence of the angel would seem to suggest a representation of Saint Cecilia, though the inclusion of a saint within an otherwise typical genre scene is unusual. As Fredericksen suggests (1972, loc. cit.) the inclusion of the angel might have been an afterthought at the request of a pious patron

According to Moir (loc. cit.), Paolini presumably based this painting on Angelo Caroselli's multifigural compositions with which Caroselli preoccupied himself during the first two decades of the 17th century. Paolini became a pupil of Caroselli after his arrival to Rome in 1619. Paolini was equally influenced by Caravaggio's early lyrical style