CIRCA 1750, PROBABLY GENTILE WORKSHOP

Details

A CASTELLI RECTANGULAR PLAQUE OF THE ARCHANGEL SAINT MICHAEL
CIRCA 1750, PROBABLY GENTILE WORKSHOP
Painted after Guido Reni with the Archangel Saint Michael defeating Satan, his sword raised above him and holding fetters in his left hand, Satan cowering beneath his foot on rocky ground, in an ebonised wood frame with a band of fruiting ivy within a ribbon-tied foliate gilt border (some very minor chipping to reverse edge of plaque)
The plaque 13 7/8 in. (35.3 cm.) x 10¼ in. (26 cm.)

Provenance

Anon., sale Christie's London, 17th February 1958, lot 85.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This plaque is derived from the 1635 oil painting on silk by Guido Reni (illustrated on page 84) in the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome. The painting was commissioned by Antonio Barberini, Cardinal of Sant'Onofrio and brother of Pope Urban VIII, protector of the Capuchin Church. Although denied by Reni, according to tradition, Satan was given the likeness of Cardinal Pamphili, the future Pope Innocent X, whose relations with the Barberini family were far from cordial. Reni's painting also provides the inspiration for the Saint Michael the Archangel mosaic Altarpiece (1757-1758) in the Basilica di San Pietro in the Vatican City.

For another Castelli plaque, painted with the same subject, and attributed to Giacomo or Berardino Gentili, see Vincenzo de Pompeis, Maioliche di Castelli nella Collezione Acerbo in Loreto Aprutino Pescara (Pescara, 2001), p. 130, OA-43.

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