Angel in flight, Domenico Piola (Genoa, 1627 – 1703) workshop of

Workshop of Domenico Piola (Genoa, 1627 – 1703)
Angel in flight
Oil on canvas (40 x 58 cm./in frame 45 x 62 cm.)

This splendid angel is a work that presents the stylistic connotations of the most beautiful Genoese baroque painting of the seventeenth century, finding in particular close correspondences with the catalog of the painter Domenico Piola (Genoa 1627-1703), allowing its authorship to be traced back to the copious production of the workshop .

Among the main exponents of Genoese Baroque, belonging to a family of painters active between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, he opened the largest and most prestigious painting workshop in the city (Casa Piola) in Vicolo San Leonardo. For almost twenty years he held the undisputed monopoly of the most important city decoration commissions, creating paintings and frescoes for churches and patrician palaces of families such as the Doria, the Balbi and the Spinola.

It could conceivably be a test sketch, for a more complex creation, or a painting intended for domestic devotion.

Immortalized in flight and holding in his hands the keys to Paradise, ancient Christian symbolism of the universal Church, our angel represents a true emblem of Piola's pictorial poetics, centered on the decorative pleasantness of these subjects, which the author loved to include in his canvases to make the overall taste more pleasant.

The comparisons to some of Piola's subjects can be found in the beauty of our angel, in the very fine features of the face, characteristic of his great skill in portraiture. Reading highlights the quick, almost sketchy touch, typical of his way of painting.

For comparison purposes (source: Federico Zeri Foundation Catalogue):
D.Piola, Musician angels, private collection fig.1 and fig.2
D.Piola, Putto, private collection fig.3
D.Piola, Apparition of the Madonna to Antonio Botta (detail), private collection fig.4
D.Piola, Saint Matthew and Saint John the Evangelist (detail), private collection fig.5

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The painting is sold complete with a pleasant antique golden frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

We take care of and organize the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.

If you have the desire to see this or other works in person, we will be happy to welcome you to our new gallery in Riva del Garda, in Viale Giuseppe Canella 18. We are waiting for you!

Contact us for any information or to organize a visit, we will be happy to answer you.

In case of purchase of the work by non-Italian customers it will be necessary to obtain an export permit which requires approximately 10/20 days, our gallery will take care of the entire phase until obtaining it. All costs of this operation are included.

Follow us also on: https://www.instagram.com/galleriacastelbarco/?hl=it
https://www.facebook.com/galleriacastelbarco/