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Giovanni di PIETRO (1470-1480 circa ? Spoleto, 1528) known a…
See original version (French)
40
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Giovanni di PIETRO (1470-1480 circa ? Spoleto, 1528) known a…
See original version (French)
Estimate €15,000 - €25,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Giovanni di PIETRO (1470-1480 circa ? Spoleto, 1528) known as LO SPAGNA, attributed to
Christ carrying his cross
Parquet panel.
H_51.5 cm W_33.5 cm
(old restorations)
Provenance :
Possibly with Schmit, 22 rue de Charonne, Paris, (Illustration 10 May 1941)
-Former Antonini collection
-Acquired by descent by the current owner.
The painting was reproduced in L'Illustration in 1941 (Artloss Register no.
S00266895).
Giovanni di Pietro, known as Lo Spagna ("the Spaniard"), is one of the most singular and
of the Italian Renaissance. His nickname, which
for posterity, recalls his Iberian origins, which remain partly mysterious.
The exact town of his birth is unknown, and it was in Italy that his career and
his career and his fame. He settled
in Umbria, that region in the heart of the peninsula that has been called, not without reason
the "land of painters", and whose towns (Perugia, Spoleto, Todi
(Perugia, Spoleto, Todi, Assisi, Trevi) are just some of the milestones in a life entirely devoted to art and to the service of art.
dedicated to art and the service of religious patrons.
It was in Perugia, an exceptionally lively artistic centre at the end of the 15th century,
that Lo Spagna entered the studio of Pietro Perugino, known as Perugino, one of the most
most celebrated painters of his time and undisputed master of the Umbrian
Umbrian school. Perugino's fame spread far beyond Umbria (
he was called to Rome to help decorate the Sistine Chapel).
Sistine Chapel), ran a very active workshop that trained many of the great names of the
Renaissance, including Raphael.
It was in this exceptional intellectual and technical crucible that Lo Spagna
forged his pictorial style, remarkably assimilating Perugino's principles:
rigour of composition, soothing symmetry of figurative groups, gentle, melancholy faces
melancholy of the faces, subtle modelling of the drapery with its regular folds, and a luminous
and a luminous range of colours.
Lo Spagna was not content to simply be a hand in the studio: he quickly became one of the most important collaborators.
quickly became one of Perugino's closest collaborators, working on several of his projects before
before setting up his own workshop. He settled permanently in Spoleto,
where he became the official painter, and took on numerous commissions for the
religious institutions in the region.
Absolute fidelity to Perugino's aesthetic ideal is one of the most fascinating features of his work.
one of the most fascinating features of Lo Spagna and one of the keys to our painting's
our painting. The stylistic proximity between the master and
his pupil is such that many of Lo Spagna's works have long been circulated
attributed to Perugino himself, even in the most learned collections and catalogues.
and catalogues. Our Christ Carrying His Cross
to a corpus of several Christs with great similarities to our painting
with our painting, and whose attributions are clearly disputed. The
quality of execution, our painting was, in the opinion of Adopho Venturi and Robert Longhi
Robert Longhi "one of the most beautiful works by this great Italian artist, whose
whose colouring is inimitable". It is still difficult to differentiate between certain
works by Spagna and Perugino, such is the exceptional level of mastery and
mastery and perfect integration of the master's style. This complexity
reflects the difficulty of attributing works to certain Italian masters, but above all, the
quality of the works that raise these questions. The restoration of
of our painting may enable us to make a definitive attribution to one or other of
to one or other of these great masters of the Renaissance.
The subject of Christ carrying his cross occupied an important place in Christian
devotion at the end of the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, particularly in central
central Italy, which was deeply influenced by Franciscan spirituality. This
iconography, which invites the faithful to meditate on the Passion and to feel
suffering Christ, was particularly popular for private devotional works.
private devotion. The small format of the panel is precisely
characteristic of these works, which were intended for intimate use in an oratory
oratory, a private chapel or a patrician residence, and in front of which the
before which the faithful would kneel in prayer.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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