Flaminio Torri (1621-1661) - San Francesco

This poignant and plastic depiction of the Saint of Assisi, whose attribution to Flaminio Torri has now been ascertained for over thirty years (see the attached sheet from the Finarte auction of 22 November 1988, lot 252) , fits into a cultural climate that had fully understood the Caravaggio-style naturalism in the representation of sacred and profane subjects, abandoning the idealizing manner of sixteenth-century painting.
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The transport of Francis' gaze, resting on that crucified Christ who still seems alive, the painful articulation of the hands in prayer, the perfect rendering of the skull are set in a chiaroscuro atmosphere which entrusts the narration of the salvific pathos to the play of light. Even the nakedly rocky background, devoid of concessions to the delights of nature, seems functional in keeping the observer's attention focused on the focus of the scene and its strong psychological and emotional charge.
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Flaminio Torri, born in Bologna in 1620, trained first at the school of Giacomo Cavedoni (1577-1660) and then became the main collaborator of Simone Cantarini (1612-1648) , whose workshop he took over upon the master's death in 1648. If his early works certainly still reflect his closeness to Cantarini (think of the famous Adoration of the Magi for the Convent of San Giuseppe in Bologna) , in the long run it was the lesson of the Carraccis, mediated by Renian influences, that stimulated his creative streak. In 1658 Torri was called to Modena by Alfonso IV to preside over the decoration of the Estense Gallery and that was the occasion of a further meeting that proved decisive: the one with the monumental naturalism of Mattia Preti (1613-1699) who had worked in the city in the early 1950s. It is precisely the Cavalier Calabrese, if we want, the trait d'union between Torri and Caravaggio.
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Some of the artist's most famous canvases are today found at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, at the National Gallery of Palazzo Barberini and Palazzo Corsini in Rome, and of course at the Galleria Estense in Modena , as well as in the Collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein, while his drawings are preserved in the Louvre, the Prado, the Metropolitan in New York and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt.
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TECHNICAL DATA AND CONDITIONS:
Oil on canvas, 118 x 96. 5 cm. The state of conservation is excellent. The pictorial surface appears intact and the retouches are minimal. The painting was relined, with the frame replaced, in recent years. The current chassis is healthy and efficient. The frame is offered free of charge.
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