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CLEMENTE SPERA
(Nov…
See original version (Italian)
ALESSANDRO MAGNASCO (Genoa, 1667 - 1749)
CLEMENTE SPERA
(Nov…
See original version (Italian)
Lot no. 50
Description
ALESSANDRO MAGNASCO
(Genoa, 1667 - 1749)
CLEMENTE SPERA
(Novara, 1661 - Milan, 1742)
Noli me tangere
The Temptations of Christ
Oil on canvas, 116.5X94.5 cm (2)
Provenance:
Milan, Private collection
For the quality of the figures and the scenic construction, the paintings are an important testimony to the collaboration between Alessandro Magnasco and Clemente Spera. The latter artist owes his fame to his association with Lissandrino, but in recent years his personality has been re-evaluated. In fact, archive research has revealed that he played a far from marginal and often leading role in his relations with patrons. This aspect does not mean that the figurine painter's talent was not appreciated by art lovers, but rather emphasises the exceptional symbiosis between the two masters and, in particular, Magnasco's independent nature, free to manage his own business by intervening in the works of other artists such as Peruzzini or in total independence. Turning our attention back to the canvases under examination reveals a striking uniformity between the landscape and the figures, indicative of their high quality and symbiotic conception. As far as biographical information on Spera is concerned, we know that he was born in Novara, that he was a pupil of the quadraturist Giacomo Antonio Mina, that around the 1880s he moved to Milan and in the last decade began his association with Magnasco, who influenced his style in an 18th-century key. According to Fausta Franchini, the execution of these works must be placed between 1725 and 1730, thus at the full maturity of the authors, and the scholar praises the tenor of the figure pieces, conducted with rapid brushstrokes, darting flashes of light and fluid drafting that give the scenes a peculiar narrative energy.
The works are accompanied by a critical file by Fausta Franchini Guelfi.
Reference bibliography:
A. Morassi, Exhibition of Magnasco, Bergamo 1949, ad vocem
B. Geiger, Alessandro Magnasco, Bergamo 1949, ad vocem
F. Franchini Guelfi, Alessandro Magnasco, Genoa 1977, ad vocem
M. Olivari, Alessandro Magnasco e Clemente Spera, in Pinacoteca di Brera. Lombard, Ligurian and Piedmontese Schools 1525 ; 1796, Milan 1989, pp. 35-36
L. Muti and D. De Sarno Prignano, Magnasco, Faenza 1994, ad vocem
V. Caprara, Clemente Spera, in Alessandro Magnasco 1667 ; 1749, exhibition catalogue edited by E. Camesasca and M. Bona Castellotti, Milan 1996, p. 312
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