Period Italian Giovanni Francesco Romanelli Follower, Painting

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Period italian giovanni francesco romanelli follower painting
this not signed very interesting oil painting on canvas dates back to the … Read more Period italian giovanni francesco romanelli follower painting
this not signed very interesting oil painting on canvas dates back to the mid-17th century.
it depicts the virgin mary kneeling and reading the book of hours.
it is the work of an artist from central italy, probably from the circle of giovanni francesco romanelli, known as il viterbese or il raffaellino.
the painting is accompanied by a beautiful contemporary salvator rosa-model frame in pure gold-plated wood.



giovanni francesco romanelli (viterbo, 1610– viterbo, 9 november 1662) was a major italian painter of the baroque period, celebrated for his use of bright, vivid colors and also for his clarity of detail. Many of his works are on display in the louvre.


born in viterbo to laura de angelis and bartolomeo romanelli, he went to rome at age 14 to study to become an artist, and within a few years became part of the household of cardinal francesco barberini. He was a pupil in the painting studio of pietro da cortona, the leading painter of his day, but the two eventually quarreled and so romanelli left. Romanelli is first recorded in 1631, assisting cortona on the decoration of the palazzo barberini, rome, which he continued to do during most of that decade, notably on the great ceiling fresco of divine providence (1632–9). He also contributed to cortona’s quarant’ore decorations for san lorenzo in damaso, rome, for 1632–3. In his easel pictures of the 1630s, such as the rape of helen (rome, capitoline museums), romanelli is close to the most classical of cortona’s works.
romanelli's first known independent commission was for the barberini pope urban viii: a fresco for an overdoor in st. Peter’s, st. Peter healing the sick (1636–7; rome, vatican, museo del tesoro di san pietro). In 1637 romanelli began a series of cartoons of decorative putti for tapestries in the apostolic palace, apparently intended as a direct imitation of those designed by the raphael school for leo x in 1520. Also in 1637 payments began for his fresco cycle (possibly begun earlier) of 1520. Also in 1637 payments began for his fresco cycle (possibly begun earlier) of scenes from the life of matilda of tuscany, in the sala della contessa matilda in the vatican (1637–42), a work that reveals a certain weakness in large-scale composition. More successful were his ceiling fresco of feed my sheep and altarpiece of the nativity in the vatican gallery of maps (both 1638).
this period of vatican commissions closed with his first major altarpiece, the presentation in the temple (1638–42; rome, santa maria degli angeli e dei martiri), painted for the cappella della colonna in st. Peter’s, which shows him retreating from cortona’s venetian colourism to the safety of bolognese disegno; like most of the altarpieces destined for st. Peter’s at this time, it was replaced by a mosaic copy. This extensive barberini patronage evidently made romanelli quite a distinguished figure in rome.
from 1637 he featured regularly in the records of the prestigious accademia di san luca.
in 1639 he was elected director of the accademia.
he contributed a ceiling fresco of arion to the series of decorations by notable artists in the palazzo costaguti, rome, and frescoed mythological scenes in friezes in the palazzo altemps.
he was also employed by the most distinguished artistic figure in the city, bernini, to execute some of the latter’s designs for chapel decorations, notably those (1642–6) for the cappella raimondi in san pietro in montorio, rome, in which he painted small scenes on the vault.
in 1648 romanelli was back in rome.
it was probably at this period that he painted his finest altarpiece, the virgin of the rosary (rome, santi domenico e sisto), in which the grace and charm of the figures are superbly controlled by his compositional facility.
a different kind of facility, however, informs his fresco decorations in the palazzo lante, rome (1653); the ceiling painting of mars, venus and mercury and six lunettes featuring episodes of roman history have a noticeably mechanical air.
in 1655, romanelli was recalled to paris.
he was commissioned to decorate the summer apartment of the queen in the louvre palace, four rooms – the salles des saisons, de la paix, de sévère and des antonins – for which he produced elaborate arrangements of panels as ceiling decoration (1655–7).
the opportunity to combine a wider range of subjects than usual, not only mythologies and histories but also allegorical and religious scenes, did not stimulate him artistically, and the results give a somewhat limp, faded impression.
the gold and white stuccos, however, executed by michel anguier after romanelli’s designs, are of great elegance.
in 1658 romanelli returned to viterbo, where he provided a fine st. Lawrence for the high altar of the cathedral.
soon afterwards he was back in rome. For the convent of sant'agostino he painted the charity of st. Thomas of villanueva; its dignified and graceful composition was imitated by melchiorre cafà in his marble group of the same subject in the adjacent church ( 1661; rome, s agostino), thus emphasizing romanelli’s position as a precursor of the late baroque.
in 1660 romanelli found himself back where he had started 30 years earlier, painting sumptuous, decorative frescoes for the barberini family (rome, palazzo barberini). He died in viterbo on 9 november 1662. Romanelli’s pupils included his son urbano romanelli and the painter from visone, giovanni monevi.

dimensions are frame included this piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



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