Offered by Antichità Castelbarco
The Announcing Angel Carlo Maratta (Camerano, 1625 – Rome, 1713)Workshop
Oil on canvas 63 x 75 cm. - Gilded wood frame 89 x 75 cm.
Excellent condition, restored, 19th century frame Posthumous inscription on the back with an inappropriate date and name: ‘Sarnelli 1730’
The proposed work depicts the Archangel Gabriel as he is about to make the supreme announcement to the Virgin, offering her the canonical white lilies, symbol of purity and chastity: it is a splendid subject, realised with great stylistic quality, probably commissioned for private use and therefore particularly pleasant and easy to place.
The Angel has the appearance of a young man of rare beauty, with delicate features, wrapped in a white tunic with soft drapes, all characterised by an intense classicism, where a balanced composition directs the observer's attention to his face.
Observing the stylistic characteristics of pleasing quality, both from the point of view of compositional invention and from the point of view of execution, and the elegance of the design, we are led to attribute it to a painter of Roman origin active between the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the following century.
In particular, the work can be attributed to an artist who was active in the close entourage of the master Carlo Maratta (Camerano 1625 - Rome, 1713), one of the greatest exponents of 17th century classicism, or to an artist who was active in his flourishing Roman workshop.
The canvas clearly highlights the master's typical qualities, with a style capable of calibrating the taste of classicism - the figure is distinguished by an idealised beauty, which draws its basis from the ‘classic’ models of Guido Reni - with a baroque devoid of excesses, two apparently contrasting tendencies that Maratta was able to reconcile with surprising results.
Thanks to the exceptional critical and collector's fortune, his works constituted an absolute reference model, a paradigm of a pictorial style balanced in all its components (design, colour, composition, iconography), making it a point of reference in the Roman art scene.
A hard-working group of pupils and followers gravitated around the master, and even today it is very difficult to distinguish, from an attributive point of view, the compositions replicated by the author from those instead entrusted to the pupils, especially those intended for easy distribution and therefore appreciated on the market.
Delevery information :
We take care of and organise the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.
We take great care We personally take care of the packaging, to which we devote a great deal of care: each work is carefully packed, first with arti- cle material, then with a custom-made wooden box.
Should you have the desire to see this or other works in person, we would be happy to welcome you to our gallery in Riva del Garda, Viale Giuseppe Canella 18, we are always open by appointment only.
