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拍品专文
These rare and beautifully-preserved allegorical paintings are superb examples of the monumental decorative works produced by Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani and his workshop in early 18th-century Florence.
Born in 1660, Sagrestani began his training under Antonio Giusti and Romolo Panfi in Florence before spending an extended period in Rome, Venice and Bologna, where he joined the workshop of Carlo Cignani. On his return to his native city in the 1690s he was accepted into the Accademia del disegno and became interested in the anti-academic style of Pietro Dandini and Allessandro Gherardi. The artist was also profoundly influenced by the works of Sebastiano Ricci and Luca Giordano, and his debt to both painters is evident in the vibrant palette, virtuoso brushwork, and complex but harmonious compositions of these canvases.
Sagrestani played a pivotal role in introducing to Florence the highly ornamental style of late Baroque painting and his elegant and inventive compositions were highly sought-after by Florentine patrons. Together with his assistants, Matteo Bonecchi and Ranieri del Pace, he executed major fresco cycles in the Palazzo Capponi, the Palazzo Corsini, the Palazzo Tempi and in the villas Poggio alla Scala and il Barone. Indeed, the present large-scale canvases were probably designed as part of a decorative scheme for the state rooms or a grand salone of one such palazzo or villa. Among the figures depicted are several of the gods of Roman and Greek mythology: reclining beside a waterfall is Aurora, the personification of the dawn, above whose head hangs an eight-pointed ‘morning star’, and to the right of the goat lies Diana, virgin goddess of the hunt and the moon; Bacchus, god of wine and the harvest, wears a leopard skin and raises a glass in toast, and beside him, with her back to the viewer, is Ariadne, whom he married and transformed into a constellation of stars, an episode alluded to by the constellation encircling her head. These canvases were probably intended as allegories of the seasons of Spring and Autumn and would likely have been paired with two additional canvases representing Winter and Summer.
From 1708 until 1730, Sagrestani held the eminent position of chief designer for the Grand Ducal Tapestry workshop and the celebrated series of The Four Continents, now in the Uffizi Gallery, were produced between 1719 and 1725 to his bozzetti and cartoons. The tapestries demonstrate a number of similarities with the present pair of canvases: most notably, the woven figure of Asia is virtually identical, though in reverse, to the painted figure of Aurora; and several of the birds and putti in the canvases are almost direct replicas of those found in the tapestries.
The presence of a vase of highly-colored leaves in Aurora and Diana led Mina Gregori to suggest the collaboration of Nicola van Houbraken in both canvases at the time of the sale in 1992. However, this theory has since been discounted.
Born in 1660, Sagrestani began his training under Antonio Giusti and Romolo Panfi in Florence before spending an extended period in Rome, Venice and Bologna, where he joined the workshop of Carlo Cignani. On his return to his native city in the 1690s he was accepted into the Accademia del disegno and became interested in the anti-academic style of Pietro Dandini and Allessandro Gherardi. The artist was also profoundly influenced by the works of Sebastiano Ricci and Luca Giordano, and his debt to both painters is evident in the vibrant palette, virtuoso brushwork, and complex but harmonious compositions of these canvases.
Sagrestani played a pivotal role in introducing to Florence the highly ornamental style of late Baroque painting and his elegant and inventive compositions were highly sought-after by Florentine patrons. Together with his assistants, Matteo Bonecchi and Ranieri del Pace, he executed major fresco cycles in the Palazzo Capponi, the Palazzo Corsini, the Palazzo Tempi and in the villas Poggio alla Scala and il Barone. Indeed, the present large-scale canvases were probably designed as part of a decorative scheme for the state rooms or a grand salone of one such palazzo or villa. Among the figures depicted are several of the gods of Roman and Greek mythology: reclining beside a waterfall is Aurora, the personification of the dawn, above whose head hangs an eight-pointed ‘morning star’, and to the right of the goat lies Diana, virgin goddess of the hunt and the moon; Bacchus, god of wine and the harvest, wears a leopard skin and raises a glass in toast, and beside him, with her back to the viewer, is Ariadne, whom he married and transformed into a constellation of stars, an episode alluded to by the constellation encircling her head. These canvases were probably intended as allegories of the seasons of Spring and Autumn and would likely have been paired with two additional canvases representing Winter and Summer.
From 1708 until 1730, Sagrestani held the eminent position of chief designer for the Grand Ducal Tapestry workshop and the celebrated series of The Four Continents, now in the Uffizi Gallery, were produced between 1719 and 1725 to his bozzetti and cartoons. The tapestries demonstrate a number of similarities with the present pair of canvases: most notably, the woven figure of Asia is virtually identical, though in reverse, to the painted figure of Aurora; and several of the birds and putti in the canvases are almost direct replicas of those found in the tapestries.
The presence of a vase of highly-colored leaves in Aurora and Diana led Mina Gregori to suggest the collaboration of Nicola van Houbraken in both canvases at the time of the sale in 1992. However, this theory has since been discounted.