Battle With Clash Of Horsemen, Francesco Graziani

Francesco Graziani, known as Ciccio Napoletano
(active in Naples and Rome in the second half of the 17th century)

Battle with clash of horsemen

Oil on canvas
95 x 130 cm
In period frame cm. 114 x 148

Expertise E. Negro

This interesting painting depicts an animated scene of armed combat between knights in armour, bordered on the horizon by hills and a sky criss-crossed with white clouds that are brightened by glimpses of light. A ruined round tower, fortifications and a dense column of smoke can be seen, while in the foreground, on the left, is a knight fallen to the ground with his standard, in the centre two duellists armed with pistols and around them numerous men on horseback engaged in the fight.

It is therefore a canvas celebrating the deeds performed during a war campaign, although difficult to identify, but which probably took place in the second half of the 17th century, as evidenced by the types of armour and costumes of the combatants.

Both the invention and the stylistic qualities of the painting decisively refer to the prestigious Neapolitan school of battlers that flourished in the second half of the 17th century, highlighting its typical stylistic features. In particular, there is a thick material with warm, full-bodied colours; the painting is then uniformly illuminated by a particular light, which is useful for turning the volumes of the figures and smoothing the forms; these colours and the marked physiognomic features of the characters are effectively outlined with just a few touches of the brush.

This pictorial current was headed by talented masters such as Salvator Rosa, Jacques Courtois known as il Borgognone and Marzio Masturzo. However, it is to the works of Francesco Graziani, known as Ciccio Napoletano (active in Rome and Naples during the second half of the 17th century), that our painting can easily be linked, although the singular brilliance of the colours and the luminosity of the scene would not make the painting disfigure next to similar compositions executed by the previously mentioned battle painters.

Although there is little certain information regarding Francesco Graziani's education (many sources report that he was a pupil of Borgognone) and subsequent activity, it is known that he moved from Naples to Rome in the last decades of the 17th century, soon becoming a well-established painter among the patrons of the Urbe.

The general character of the works presents that synthesis of rapid touches and vigorous emphasis that is perfectly attributable to the catalogue of Graziani, who composes his scenes with crowded movements where the characters are delineated with a rapid and nervous, almost curly stroke, invigorated by effective luministic touches.