School of Pier Francesco Mola, Diana and Endimione, 1800s, Oil Painting on Slate, Framed

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School of pier francesco mola (coldrerio, 1612 - rome, 1666)
17th century
diana and endymion
oil on slate, 33 x … Read more School of pier francesco mola (coldrerio, 1612 - rome, 1666)
17th century
diana and endymion
oil on slate, 33 x 26.5 cm
within an antique 'salvator rosa' frame

provenance: probably rome, palazzo in piazza ss. Apostoli, collection of cardinal girolamo ii colonna, 1763: "a small painting, approximately 1.5 cm high, depicting endymion and diana, from the school of francesco mola, unframed, 4".

the work replicates one held in the capitoline picture gallery in rome (canvas, 148 x 117 cm), executed by the painter in the 1660s. The composition explores a theme dear to the painter, one he developed several times in drawings and paintings, with notable compositional variations and a completely autonomous style. This is one of the most fascinating myths of antiquity: to acquire eternal youth and beauty, endymion is suspended in an eternal sleep by jupiter, and his lover diana visits him at night, disguised as the moon, her main attribute.

mola's aptitude for executing works on stone, in addition to canvas, panel, and copper, is attested by the existence of two works: mercury and argus (galleria alberto di castro, rome; formerly vienna, dorotheum, april 17, 2013) and saint francis receiving the stigmata (london, christie's, december 9, 1994; formerly rome, collection of cardinal antonio barberini, 1671), on slate and marble, respectively. To these should be added a now-lost adoration of the shepherds, recorded in the roman collection of gaspar de haro y guzmán, marquis of carpio, in 1683.

our painting is likely recognized in the 1763 inventory of the possessions of cardinal girolamo ii colonna, which records "a small, 1.5-metre-high painting depicting endymion and diana, from the school of francesco mola, without a frame" (eduard a. Safarik. Documents for the history of collecting: italian inventories 2, collezione dei dipinti colonna. Inventari 1611-1795, munich, saur 1996; francesco petrucci, pier francesco mola (1612.1666). Matter and color in seventeenth-century painting, bozzi, rome, 2012, p. 514). This piece has an attribution mark,
i am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
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