Lot Details

Description

Domenico Zampieri, known as Domenichino

Bologna 1581 - Naples 164

Angel embracing a lamb

1620-1621

Oil on canvas

in 40,94x50

The painting is well preserved and depicts a winged putto who, innocently nude and with his head crowned with blond curls, holds a lamb in his arms that is, a sort of Cupid whose tender image recalls the representations of the Greek god Eros. It could therefore be a playful portrait of the offspring of a noble family, portrayed with features deliberately similar to those of the fickle god of love of classical antiquity, or else a kind of allegory of sacred love, to which the white lamb would allude. In any case, we are faced with a joyful and auspicious composition, reworked in an iconography that is decidedly pleasing as well as tender. From a stylistic point of view, this is a refined composition whose sober drawing of the figures and luminous reflections of harmoniously balanced colors evoke both Correggesque and Carraccesque suggestions. The traits emerging from this tenderly vibrant depiction are those of the finest naturalism of Carracci origin, and it is particularly easy to recognize a typical compositional invention and the pictorial style of one of the foremost interpreters of Annibale Carracci’s culture, namely Domenico Zampieri, known as Domenichino (Bologna 1581 – Naples 1641). These characteristics clearly pervade the work under examination as well, with its brilliant, enamel like colors. Another version of this composition on canvas is well known, similarly depicting an angel embracing a lamb, visible in the lower left corner of the altarpiece representing Saint Agnes (Hampton Court, Royal Collection; R. E. Spear, Domenichino, New Haven London 1982, vol. I, p. 162, no. 65; vol. II, pl. 231). In the present case, it is one of the most accomplished paintings from the mature phase of Domenichino’s production, datable together with our oil on canvas—to around 1620. Both were therefore executed during the demanding pictorial enterprise that decorates the walls of the Chapel of the Holy Founders of the Abbey of San Nilo at Grottaferrata. The high quality of the work and the small compositional differences encourage its association with Domenichino’s corpus; it was likely executed as a d’après taken from the final version, to satisfy another patron.

From the critical report by Dr. Emilio Negro
The painting is accompanied by:
Expertise by Dr. Emilio Negro

The canvas by the Bolognese artist (to whom I attribute the authorship of the work) presents a putto angel seated on a stone, portrayed as he embraces a lamb. The scene is set within a rocky landscape; in its compositional structure the subject recalls several works by the artist, such as The Virgin and the Unicorn (Palazzo Farnese, Galleria, 1604 - 1605) or Latona Nursing Diana and Apollo (Bassano, Palazzo Giustiniani Odescalchi, 1608 - 1609). By stylistic analogy, our work may be related to the painting of Saint Agnes (1620). In this autograph painting by Domenichino, in the lower left corner, a putto angel embracing a lamb is depicted, and the same subjects appear in our work. The attribution of this work to Domenichino rests not only on stylistic affinities with other autograph paintings by him, but also on his manner of painting, oriented toward a kind of parallelism between painting and poetry. The painting that is the subject of the present study represents a putto angel with a lamb (an allegory as mentioned above), and the authorship is attributed to Domenichino insofar as the artist presents a composition structured harmoniously, rich in content and meaning, and imbued with that poetry and form typical of the classicism expressed in his works.

From the critical report by Dr.ssa Giovanna Bandinu

The painting is accompanied by:
Expertise by Dr.ssa Giovanna Bandinu

The painting depicts a putto stroking a lamb. The presence of this animal and the child’s appearance might suggest a representation of the young Saint John the Baptist; however, since the putto is winged and openly nude, it is evident that this cannot be a saint but rather, unequivocally, a little angel. The lively yet at the same time exceedingly sweet child, of poignant humanity, is an homage to Correggio that is, to the artist who had rendered the sublime ideality of Raphael benign and familiar. Nevertheless, in comparison with the figures by Allegri, one notes here a greater attention to reality, particularly evident in the less varied coloring, aimed at volumes, and in the truthful rendering of the child’s skin. In particular, the typology of the putto recalls Domenichino’s children; see especially the little angels accompanying The Assumption of Mary Magdalene in the painting (1620) at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, and the nymphs in the Hunt of Diana in the Galleria Borghese in Rome (1616 - 1617). The landscape as well, executed with the rapidity of a fresco painter essential yet intense in its windswept, almost speaking foliage echoes those of the frescoes formerly in the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati (1616 - 1618) and now in the National Gallery in London. In particular, the episode with the Transformation of Cyparissus presents a rocky outcrop dripping with vegetation and trees with sparse branches—details entirely similar to those painted in the work under examination. Returning to typologies, any doubt is dispelled by comparison with the Saint Agnes now at Hampton Court, where, in the lower left corner, the same angel with the lamb appears, here intended as a simple speaking attribute of the saint. In Zampieri’s production we often find figures used in more than one work; this was a practice of the leading artists of the seventeenth century, employed to meet the great volume of commissions. Remaining with our case, one may observe how the little angel supporting a violin in the Saint Cecilia at Palazzo Pallavicini Rospigliosi in Rome has the same pose as the angel under consideration: the body is oblique, the head identical, set at the same inclination, though with the gaze turned to the right. The high quality of the work rules out its being a copy made by an imitator of Domenichino. The larger dimensions of the group of angel and lamb, compared to that in the Hampton Court canvas, would suggest a later execution, while not allowing one to exclude axiomatically a possible contemporaneity or even a relative precedence of the angel in question with respect to that of the Hampton Court painting.

From the critical report by Prof. Marco Ciampolini

The painting is accompanied by:
Expertise by Prof. Marco Ciampolini

Dimensions

in 40,94x50

Provenance

Private collection

Conditions

Defects.

Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each product to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Coradi Rare Finds is merely a subjective opinion.