Mercury presenting thunderbolts to Jupiter

Details

Giovanni Battista Langetti (Genoa 1635-1676 Venice)
Mercury presenting thunderbolts to Jupiter
oil on canvas
39 7/8 x 53 in. (101.2 x 134.6 cm.)

Provenance

Francesco Querini, Venice, by 1708.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 26 January 2007, lot 315 ($66,000).

Literature

C.A. Levi, Le collezioni veneziane d'arte e d'antichità dal secolo XIV ai nostri giorni, Venice, 1900, p. 152.
M.S. Mantovanelli, 'Giovanni Battista Langetti', Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell'Arte, XVII, 1990, p. 83.

Exhibited

New York, Robert Simon Fine Art, From Palace to Chapel, Important Old Master paintings, 2005.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

Although Langetti moved to Rome at an early age to study with Pietro da Cortona, he was most influenced by the art he encountered later in Naples, probably in the mid-1650s. There, he studied the work of Ribera, Francesco Fracanzano, and Luca Giordano, all of whom influenced his dramatic compositions, vigorous brushwork, and strong chiaroscuro.

More from Old Master Paintings Part II

View All