17th C. Paintings

Portrait of a Boy
Attributed to Vittore Ghislandi? (1655-1743)

Portrait of a Boy exemplifies artwork of the late Baroque period. Baroque, meaning something strange or peculiar, differs from the perfection that characterizes the art of the Renaissance period. Rather, Baroque embodies a sense of eerie naturalism. Portrait of a Boy exhibits the realism, dramatic chiaroscuro, and peculiar sweetness characteristic of the this period.

Portrait of a Boy¹ has been attributed to Vittore Ghislandi (1655-1743). Background scholarship has identified the sitter as possible the monk, Fra Galgario of the Galgario Monastery. Ghislandi was recognized as one of the best realist artists of Lombardy. Ghislandi traveled to Venice and studied with such notable artists Sebastiano Bombelli, Sebastiano Mazzoni, and Vincenzo Maffei. In addition he also visited the studio of Giambattista Tiepolo. At this time, Venice was very influenced by Caravaggio's style. The Caravaggio influence is evident in Ghislandi's Portrait of a Boy with its sense of naturalism, dark background, and dramatic chiaroscuro.

Ghislandi's portraits are usually divided into two different groups: those of provincial life and those of the aristocracy. Ghislandi was quite popular with the aristocracy, and numerous members of the nobility posed for him. Nobleman with the Three-Cornered Hat (Poldi-Pessoli Museum, Milan) is one such example. Ghislandi's paintings of the aristocracy are sometimes compared to those of Goya, as underneath the regalities he portrayed a sense of a declining aristocratic civilization. Ghislandi's other portraits are generally identified as "Rittratto di Giovinetto" (Portrait of a Young Man), which are portraits of young friars, priests, and artists. He portrays the sitters in an affectionate manner that brings out their elegance and beauty.

Throughout his career, Ghislandi painted one sitter several times. He began when the model was ten and continued until his death at the age of 22. The sitter is fittingly referred to as Ghislandi's "favorite disciple." Unfortunately, this sitter has only been identified as "Il Cerighetto" ("The Little Clerk"). Due to Ghislandi's seeming preoccupation with the little clerk, it has been speculated that the young man was more to Ghislandi than an object of study. Interestingly, the little clerk looks almost identical to the model in Portrait of a Boy.

The sitter's face is the most compelling element of this portrait. The left side is highlighted from a light source in the upper left corner, which casts the right side of his face in dramatic shadow. The illuminated cheek is flushed pink, giving the face a brilliant rosy, glowing appearance. The young man's orange-red lips are parted slightly and the corners turn upward in a little grin. His deep, dark-brown eyes engage the viewer he focuses upon. The young man's hand gesture also invites the viewer to participate in and study his image. His right hand is placed over his left hand in a typical portrait pose, but his left palm, thumb, index finger are facing out while the other three fingers are curled inward, inviting the viewer to further enter the painting. The extremely vivid colors found in the portrait also work to captivate the audience. The painting is technically very accomplished and details such as the young boy's turban and folded sleeve display Ghislandi's mastery.

Portrait of a Boy is very characteristic of Ghislandi's paintings and, as such, has been attributed to the artist previously. Today, however, the painting is not completely accepted as a true original of Ghislandi.² Therefore, the artist of Portrait of a Boy is formally identified as within the circle of Vittore Ghislandi.

Kate Demkiw-Orman

¹ Portrait of a Boy has appeared in different exhibits throughout the country, including Settecento Exhibition, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City; Art of the Past, at the Addison Gallery in Andover, Mass. (Catalog #37); and Italian Baroque Painting at the Smith College Museum of Art in 1947 (Catalog #33). There is a sticker on the back of the painting from this loan.

² Lipton, James and Christopher T. Apostle, "Appraisal Report," Jan. 20, 2004.

Provenance
Paul Drey, New York
Acquired by Kress in 1948

Exhibited
Kansas City, Mo., William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Settecento Exhibition

Andover, Mass., Addison Gallery, Phillips Academy, Art of the Past, cat. no. 37

Northampton, MA, Smith College Museum of Art, Italian Baroque Painting, February 6-25, 1947. no. 33 (as a self portrait by Ghilandi)

Andromeda on the Rocks
Paolo de Metteis (1662-1728)

Andromeda on the Rocks, also known as Andromeda and Perseus, is generally attributed to the hand of the Italian painter, Paolo de Matteis (1662-1728), who was trained in the Neapolitan workshop of Luca Giordano. Andromeda on the Rocks displays Matteis' gentle style, which epitomizes the transitional fusion of the dramatic Baroque vigor and the softer Rococo grace.

Andromeda on the Rocks portrays a moment in the Greek myth of Andromeda and Perseus. In the myth, Perseus, a son of Zeus born of the beautiful mortal, Danae, was imprisoned along with his mother in an ark because the oracles had warned his grandfather, King Akrisos, that Perseus would be his end.

A kind fisherman found the mother and son at sea and raised them on the island of Seriphus. Several years later, the evil brother of the King of Seriphus tried to take Danae in marriage. To protect his mother from this fate, the young Perseus accepted a challenge to slay the Gorgon, Medusa. Through the divine assistance of Athena and Hermes, Perseus was instructed to visit the Naiads nymphs, who gave him three gifts to help slay the Gorgon: winged shoes, the cap of Hades for invisibility, and a special wallet in which to hold the head of Medusa.

Perseus valiantly killed Medusa by avoiding the deadly stare that would turn him to stone and quickly cutting off her head. Since Medusa was pregnant with the child of Poseidon, the winged horse Pegasus sprang from the Gorgon's severed neck. Perseus quickly leapt onto Pegasus and fled the scene in order to avoid the wrath of Medusa's sisters.

On his way home, Perseus spotted the beautiful Andromeda being sacrificed to Cetus, a sea monster. Andromeda's mother, Queen Cassiopeia, had boastfully entered a beauty contest, thereby enraging the sea goddesses and Poseidon. To save their kingdom, the oracles had instructed the King and Queen to offer their daughter, Andromeda, to the sea monster. Enamored with Andromeda, Perseus made a deal with her parents that if he saved Andromeda, he could marry her. Andromeda on the Rocks portrays the moment in which Perseus charges towards Cetus in an effort to rescue Andromeda and win her hand.

By the Middle Ages, the Greek myth of Andromeda and Perseus was translated into an allegory of virtue. The scene of the victorious hero freeing an innocent maiden continued to be a popular theme throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods, demonstrating the vices of human nature and the heroism of conquering sin. The image of young Perseus flying off on the back of Pegasus symbolizes a wise man's ascent to virtue. The severed head of Medusa denotes the ability to conquer sin and evil, while the young Andromeda chained to the rocks signifies the weakness of human nature.¹

It has been speculated that Andromeda on the Rocks is not by the hand of Paolo de Matteis, but is instead an earlier work of Cavaliere d'Arpino, known as Giuseppe Cesari (1568-1640), or Rutilio Manetti (1571-1639), or perhaps the much later work of Sebastiano Conca (1680-1764). After careful examination of Matteis' other known works, it appears likely that he created Andromeda on the Rocks. His The Annunciation, completed in 1712 and found today in the St. Louis Art Museum, possesses the same skilled modeling of figures found in Andromeda on the Rocks. A particularly striking comparison is the foreshortening and soft sculpting of the right bent leg of the angel Gabriel in The Annunciation, which is nearly identical to the right leg of the seated Andromeda. In addition to this similarity of form, both paintings maintain the same delicate positioning and appearance of the figure's hands.

While Andromeda on the Rocks may never be definitively attributed to Matteis, the painting is nevertheless a testimony to the eighteenth-century Italian creations that are often obscured in the history of art. While much of the world was enthralled with the great masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, by the eighteenth century, the focus of culture had shifted from Italy and the Vatican to more Northern European cultural centers such as France and England. Also during this period, Naples with its increasing wealth from trade, became an artistic world in itself that should not be ignored.²

Jennifer Mortensen

¹ Mayerson, Philip, Classical Mythology in Literature, Art and Music (Newburyport, Mass: Focus Pub./R. Pullins, 2001): 291-294.

² Roworth, Wendy Wassying, "Rethinking Eighteenth-Century Rome," Art Bulletin 83 (2001): 135 (10).

Provenance
Contini Bonacossi, Florence, from whom acquired by Kress in 1950