Giovanni Battista Langetti

(Genoa 1635–1676 Venice)
A Philosopher,
oil on canvas, 99 x 81 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Christie’s, London, 11 December 1987, lot 125;
sale, Algranti, Milan, 27 October 1988, lot 61;
Private collection, Genoa;
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Genoa, Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola-Galleria di Palazzo Reale, Genova nell’età barocca, 2 May - 26 July 1992, no. 110

Literature:
M. Stefani Mantovanelli, Giovanni Battista Langetti, in: Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell’Arte, 17, 1990, p. 80 and p. 308, fig. 121;
M. Stefani Mantovanelli, in: E. Gavazza/G. Rotondi Terminiello (ed.), Genova nell’età barocca, exhibition catalogue, Bologna 1992, pp. 206-208, no. 110;
M. Stefani Mantovanelli, Giovanni Battista Langetti. Il principe dei tenebrosi, Soncino 2011, pp. 236-237, no. 155, pl. LXX

The present painting, together with its pendant lot 62, is one of the finest expressions of Giovanni Battista Langetti’s oeuvre; it was almost certainly commissioned by a refined and sophisticated collector. The figure represented, seen half-length and in profile, is identifiable as a philosopher on account of the two large books before him, and the other that he holds under his right arm. The psychological introspection of this severe individual and the naturalness of his gestures are striking: this effect is underscored by the ‘half-figure’ compositional format, which the painter frequently adopted. The subject’s thoughtful expression, the artist’s attention to anatomical detail, the rendering of the red mantle that contrasts with the dark ground, the luminous lingering brushstrokes depicting the beard and the book pages are all elements that reveal the pictorial quality of the present work: Langetti’s abilities are seen here at the apogee of his painterly talent. Indeed, this canvas can be dated during the final years of the artist’s career, a little before the Saint Peter and the Saint Paul executed in 1675 for the now demolished church of Sant’Agostino in Padua (and currently located in the church of San Daniele in the same city). Maria Stefani Mantovelli particularly noted the close affinities between the present work and the Saint Paul observing how the artist ‘sentisse una corrispondenza morale tra la grandezza del Filosofo e quella dell’Apostolo…’ [‘felt a moral correspondence between the greatness of the Philosopher and that of the Apostle…’] (see literature, Stefani Mantovanelli, 2011, p. 236).

Giovanni Battista Langetti’s earliest training occurred in his native city while he completed his apprenticeship at Rome in the studio of Pietro da Cortona, after which he made a journey to Naples where came into contact with various painters that were to draw his painting under the influence of the Caravaggist tenebrosi, and most notably Jusepe de Ribera. From the latter half of the 1650s he established himself definitively at Venice, while never loosing contact with his native Genoese ambient. Boschini described the painter as ‘[d’] inzegno tenebroso e scuro’ [‘[of a] tenebrist and dark genius’] (see M. Boschini, La Carta del Navegar pitoresco, 1660, ed. by A. Pallucchini, Venice and Rome 1966, p. 577) on account of his painterly style, which drew him into association with other painters active in Venice at the time whose work is characterised by extreme naturalism and a dramatically violent deployment of light and shade.