Francesco Celebrano, Italian 1729-1814- The Personification of Sight; and The Personification of Smell; oils on panel, each bear handwritten label 'BRUNARD' on the reverse, each 65.5 x 42 cm., a pair (2). Provenance: An important Private...

Francesco Celebrano,

Italian 1729-1814-

The Personification of Sight; and The Personification of Smell;

oils on panel, each bear handwritten label 'BRUNARD' on the reverse, each 65.5 x 42 cm., a pair (2).

Provenance: An important Private Collection, UK.

Note: Neapolitan painter and sculptor Francesco Celebrano was royal painter to the court of King Ferdinand IV of Naples (1751-1825). Nicola Spinosa dates the present works to the artist’s early maturity, between 1770 and 1775. Indeed, their elegance, colour and form are typical of his compositions, with the latter especially noticeable here in the treatment of the figures' overtly muscular arms and legs. It is likely that three other related panels - depicting the other senses of touch, taste, and hearing - exist. For particularly close comparison, notably of the central figures and putti, see the pair of allegories in oil which appeared at Christie’s, New York, 3 June 2015, lot 34. For more information on Celebrano, see N. Spinosa, ‘Pittura napoletana del Settecento dal Rococò al Classicismo’, Naples, 1993. We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for confirming the attribution of the present lot.
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