Scuola napoletana (XVIII) - Allegoria dell'avarizia
Neapolitan school, 18th century
Allegory of greed
Oil on canvas, 43 x 37. 5 cm
With frame, 59 x 54 cm
The traditional figural representation of avarice, already widespread at the time of Cesare Ripa's Iconography, contains the venial synthesis of the main human facets: an elderly woman, flanked by a young boy intent on counting coins on the sidelines, stigmatizes in her thinness and general likeness proved the shortcomings imposed by a modern deity. In the present painting the sack of coins is replaced by a necklace with gold and silver medals, stolen and ended up in the hands of the boy behind.
Strong lighting cleans the foreground of the composition, materially and metaphorically clouded in the darkness that the vision of life mediated by this principle causes. The sculptural epidermal treatment of the woman, also deprived of the fiery youth that reddens the cheeks of the child, cools down with an icy yellow tone, also coloristically condensing the theme of avarice.
The present, to be ascribed to the Neapolitan brush, concentrates the Neapolitan tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries, loading the typical Mediterranean characters with a turgid colourism. The lesson of Gaspare Traversi (1722-1770) , a great exponent of the Neapolitan movement, to which the present can be compared for the Seduction of the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, confirms its cosmopolitanism mediated by the presence of enlightened sovereigns such as Robert of Anjou and Charles of Bourbon. Caravaggio's documented passage to the city was fundamental in the reception of syntactic and pictorial innovations, also innovative in the choice of subjects. The starting point of the allegory therefore offers an opportunity to reflect on the realistic and vivid image of a population marked by the effects of life, as Merisi was splendidly creating.
The frame is provided free of charge, therefore it cannot be a reason for return or complaint.
For paintings purchased abroad: after payment the procedure to obtain the export license (ALC) will be started. All antiques sent abroad from Italy need this document, issued by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. The procedure could take 3 to 5 weeks from the request, therefore, as soon as we have the document the painting will be sent.
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Neapolitan school, 18th century
Allegory of greed
Oil on canvas, 43 x 37. 5 cm
With frame, 59 x 54 cm
The traditional figural representation of avarice, already widespread at the time of Cesare Ripa's Iconography, contains the venial synthesis of the main human facets: an elderly woman, flanked by a young boy intent on counting coins on the sidelines, stigmatizes in her thinness and general likeness proved the shortcomings imposed by a modern deity. In the present painting the sack of coins is replaced by a necklace with gold and silver medals, stolen and ended up in the hands of the boy behind.
Strong lighting cleans the foreground of the composition, materially and metaphorically clouded in the darkness that the vision of life mediated by this principle causes. The sculptural epidermal treatment of the woman, also deprived of the fiery youth that reddens the cheeks of the child, cools down with an icy yellow tone, also coloristically condensing the theme of avarice.
The present, to be ascribed to the Neapolitan brush, concentrates the Neapolitan tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries, loading the typical Mediterranean characters with a turgid colourism. The lesson of Gaspare Traversi (1722-1770) , a great exponent of the Neapolitan movement, to which the present can be compared for the Seduction of the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, confirms its cosmopolitanism mediated by the presence of enlightened sovereigns such as Robert of Anjou and Charles of Bourbon. Caravaggio's documented passage to the city was fundamental in the reception of syntactic and pictorial innovations, also innovative in the choice of subjects. The starting point of the allegory therefore offers an opportunity to reflect on the realistic and vivid image of a population marked by the effects of life, as Merisi was splendidly creating.
The frame is provided free of charge, therefore it cannot be a reason for return or complaint.
For paintings purchased abroad: after payment the procedure to obtain the export license (ALC) will be started. All antiques sent abroad from Italy need this document, issued by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. The procedure could take 3 to 5 weeks from the request, therefore, as soon as we have the document the painting will be sent.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
