Ilario Giacinto MERCANTI dit IL SPOLVERINI (Parme, 1657- Piacenza, 1734)

The entrance of the Duchess Dorotea to Parma
Inscribed by the artist "I. Carozza della Seren Dorotea / 2. Carozze di seguito con ... .ali / cavalieri e gives / 3. Prima Guardia con Trombeti e Timpani / 4. Distesa deli Alemani nela / strada Maestra di S. Michele / 5. Corpo di Guardia nela piazza / 6. Guardia delli irlandesi and Labardiere che mancano al "," Mancano who acc ... "and numbered from" 1 "to" 6 "
Bibliography: Nicolas Schwed, Old Drawings, Paris 2016, n. 14: The entrance of the Duchess Dorotea to Parma.

Spolverini was the son of Pietro Mercanti, a minor painter from Parma who worked on the decoration of the city for the entrance of Margherita Violante di Savoia in 1660 when he married Ranuccio II. The first mention of Spolverini as a painter dates from 1677, when he received 225 lire for the realization of coats of arms for the Steccata. He specialized in battle painting, but also painted many copies of old masters for Farnese. His most important coma was the nineteen canvases for Elisabetta's wedding, painted from 1717 to 1722.

1 The same church as in the upper left corner of the drawing of the British Museum (Inv.Oo, 3.3, R. Arisi, Ilario Spolverini, Pittore di Battaglia e Cerimony, CatExpo, Piacenza, Palazzo Farnese, 1979, Disegni no. 1, Fig. 83).
2 L. Muratori in the Annali d'Italia published in 1690 described them as: "The most important thing is the opera in Musica fatte nel gran teatro, eel Giardino della Corte, seize the livree, straordinarie the macchine, i caroselli, i balli, the illuminazioni, i conviti ... Per aunt feast not s'incomodò poco what Sovrano, my certamente fece parlare assaissimo dell'animo suo grande, benchè alcuni vi trovassero dell'eccesso ".
G. Notari, Descritione delle feste fatte eseguire con reale magnificenza nella citta? di Parma, he wrote di maggio 1690: dal serenissimo signor dvca Ranvccio II for the nozze del serenissimo principle Odoardo Farnese svo primogenito, con la serenissima principessa Dorotea Sofia, palatina di Neobvrgo, Parma, 1690.
4 A large painting in the Palazzo del Commune in Parma of a Naumachie is described by Raphaella Arisi as an event of Dorotea's wedding celebrations, but it was painted around 1710 (Arisi 1979, 54, Fig. 56).
5 With a salary of 3450.16 read (Arisi, 1979, pp. 25 and 37).
6 Schedone, Lanfranco, Parmigianino, Sojaro etc. (Arisi, 1970, pp. 26-30).