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Lot Essay
In 1621 Giovanni Martinelli moved to Florence to study with Jacopo Ligozzi. After his training he almost certainly travelled to Rome in the second half of the 1620s, where he was influenced by Caravaggesque naturalism. He returned to Florence in 1636, where he enrolled in the influential Accademia del Disegno.
Martinelli presumably executed the present painting in Rome in his early years, circa 1625-32.
In all likelyhood the present painting depicts the story of Semiramis called to battle, as recounted by the Roman historian and moralist Valerius Maximus in his De Factis Dictisque Memorabilibus Libri (vol. IX, p.3, ext.4). Semiramis, queen of Assyria, was interrupted at her toilette by news that Babylon had rebelled. She immediately ran to arms and showed her determination as a ruler by refusing to finish combing her hair until she had led her army and restored the power in her city.
We are grateful to Paul Taylor of the Warburg Institute, London, for suggesting the subject matter.
Martinelli presumably executed the present painting in Rome in his early years, circa 1625-32.
In all likelyhood the present painting depicts the story of Semiramis called to battle, as recounted by the Roman historian and moralist Valerius Maximus in his De Factis Dictisque Memorabilibus Libri (vol. IX, p.3, ext.4). Semiramis, queen of Assyria, was interrupted at her toilette by news that Babylon had rebelled. She immediately ran to arms and showed her determination as a ruler by refusing to finish combing her hair until she had led her army and restored the power in her city.
We are grateful to Paul Taylor of the Warburg Institute, London, for suggesting the subject matter.