Giorgio de Chirico *

(Volos, Greece 1888–1978 Rome)
Battaglia, c. 1950, signed G. de Chirico, oil on canvas laid on panel, 20 x 30 cm, framed
This work is accompanied by a photo certificate of authenticity issued by Claudio Bruni Sakraischik dated Rome, 28 September 1989.

Provenance:
Diodecio Redig de Campos Collection, Rome (gift of the artist)
Daniela Redig de Campos, Rome (thence by descent)
European Private Collection
Sale: Dorotheum Vienna, 26 November 2009, lot 257
European Private Collection (acquired from the above)

Exhibited:
Catanzaro, Complesso Monumentale del San Giovanni, Giorgio de Chirico, L’enigma e la gloria, 2006, exh. cat. p. 111 with ill. (titled “Battaglia, Guerrieri cavallo”)

Literature:
Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Giorgio de Chirico, Catalogo Generale - Opere dal 1913 al 1976, vol. 3, Maretti Editore, p. 229 with ill.

In 1939, de Chirico left Paris and returned to Italy, where he lived between Milan and Florence before settling in Rome in 1944, a city where he remained until his death.
The period from 1938 to 1968 marks an important phase in his work, often referred to as the “Baroque period.” This so-called Baroque phase is characterized by a thicker, more impasto-like painting style, with a denser and more substantial pictorial texture.
The artist’s Baroque references, at least the explicit ones, appear to be largely foreign in origin. In the 1940s, Flemish and Spanish painters were at the center of de Chirico’s artistic preferences, particularly Rubens, Velázquez, and Ribera, while his personal canon also extended into the Rococo period with Watteau.