Pietro da Cortona (1597 - 1669) [scuola di] - La conversione di San Paolo

\Artist: Pietro da Cortona (1597 - 1669) [scuola di]
Technique: Oil on canvas\Signature: Not signed\Dimensions: 95_11_105_cm
PIETRO DA CORTONA [school of] (Cortona, 1597 – Rome, 1669) La conversione di San Paolo Oil on canvas, 71 x 81 cm. Frame size, approx. 84 x 95 x 6 cm. Notes: With certificate of warranty and lawful origin. With gilded wood frame (with flaws) . The painting, depicting a Biblical scene - the Conversion of St. Paul - has a Cortona-like character with accents taken from the Roman school of the seventeenth century. That said, we must irreparably evaluate the extraordinary suggestion of the Roman artistic environment, capable of shaping or renewing the lexicon of many artists, who despite possessing a achieved autonomy of the trade do not hesitate to confront themselves by renewing or denying their training. It is therefore not surprising our canvas can be referred to an artist active in Rome with works that reveal a singular mixture of Cortona-like style with noteworthy experimental inclinations and manifest Bolognese declinations. The clues of style and the drafting – where they exhibit the peculiar characteristics of the school of Pietro da Cortona – also suggest a date of execution to be placed in the second half of the seventeenth century. Pietro da Cortona, born Pietro Berrettini (Cortona, 1 November 1596 – Rome, 16 May 1669) , was an Italian painter and architect. Pietro was an artist of the early Baroque; we find his works especially in the field of decorative fresco and painting. During the papacy of Urban VIII (of whom he made a portrait) he was one of the main architects operating in Rome, together with Bernini and Borromini. Pietro Berettini designed Castel Gandolfo as we know it today. In 1634 he became prince of the Accademia di San Luca and had an active part in the design of the church of Sainti Luca e Martina at the Roman Forum; the Greek cross layout of the church is one of his conceptions. The painter, a capable student or vigorous follower of the master and who therefore made this work after 1650, chooses to depict The Conversion of St. Paul. The story is told in the Bible, where the event is explicitly described in the Acts of the Apostles and implicitly mentioned in some of Paul's letters. In Acts 9: 1-9 there is the narrative description of what happened, which is recounted again by Paul himself, with quite remarkable variations, both at the end of the lynching attempt in Jerusalem (Acts 22: 6-11) , and during the appearance in Caesarea before the governor Porcius Festus and King Herod Agrippa II (Acts 26,12-18) . Later artistic tradition imagined the fall to the ground as a fall from a horse, but the detail is absent from all three accounts, although it remains possible and plausible since the event occurred during the journey. After this flash-revelation-call (the text never uses the term metànoia, or "conversion") Paul went to Damascus and received baptism from a Judeo-Christian man named Ananias, regaining his sight (Acts 9,10-19; 22,12-16) . According to the biblical text, it was through Ananias that the risen Jesus communicated to Paul the missionary mandate to the Gentiles (Acts 9: 15) that will characterize his subsequent ministry. The incidence of Cortona’s style on the painting in question is reflected in some works created by valid painters active in the workshop of the master or his circle. The canvas is in rather fair overall condition, considering its age, the surface is dirty and shows a patina. Wood’s lamp shows some small scattered restorations (in the background on top left and above the lying body of St. Paul, further restorations and small drops in colour) and fat accumulations. The work, on first canvas, does not highlight serious conservative problems, although a conservative intervention may be necessary. In natural light, there is a fine craquelure consistent with the painting’s age. Canvas size: 71 x 84 cm. The painting is sold with a gilded frame (frame size: approx. 84 x 95 x 6 cm, with flaws) . Origin: private collection. Publication: \t. Unpublished; \t. I MITI E IL TERRITORIO nella Sicilia dalle mille culture. INEDITA QUADRERIA general catalogue of the paintings in the collection of the cycle ‘I Miti e il territorio’, Editore Lab_04, Marsala, (now printing, 2022) . We guarantee accurate packaging with outer wooden crate and inner bubble wrap / cardboard / polystyrene (packaging cost: approximately €130. 00) and tracked shipping (€120. 00 Italy) . For export, the work is subject to a new request for Certificate of Free Circulation (European Community) or Export Certificate (Extra-EU Transport) , at the export office (Soprintendenza del Territorio) with additional times and costs (€450/€1. 000, all inclusive: shipping, packaging and export documents) . The shipment may have a delay of a few days/weeks due to logistic and administrative reasons.