Giovanni Coli (1636 – 1681), Filippo Gherardi (1643 – 1704), Assumption of the Virgin

Giovanni Coli (San Quirico, 1636 – Lucca, 1681), Filippo Gherardi (Lucca, 1643- 1704)

Assumption of the Virgin

Oil on canvas, 95 x 70 cm

With frame 111 x 85 cm

The canvas in question can be attributed for its strong stylistic and formal consonances not to a single artist but to two painters, working together for almost their entire lives: Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli.

Filippo Gherardi took his first steps in the world of art in Lucca in his father's workshop, where Giovanni Coli also worked, with whom he formed a strong friendship and an artistic partnership that was destined to last until Coli's death; it is consequently difficult to independently reconstruct the biographical and professional path of the two painters that Pellegrino Orlandi described with these words: "They did not disdain the fact that one worked in the same head, or cloth, or figure as the other".

Subsequently the two entered the Roman workshop of Pietro da Cortona to update themselves on the characteristics of the new Baroque painting. They were also in Venice where they studied and made some copies of the works of Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. In the lagoon they also received important commissions such as the creation of a large canvas "Madonna in Glory", now lost, for the church of the Italian colony in Lisbon and the commission for the vaults of the Benedictine monastery of S. Giorgio Maggiore with the creation of five canvases linked to the theme of divine wisdom. The canvases, which combine the mastery of Cortona and the great scenography of Veronese, will have great importance for the Venetian figurative culture of the second half of the 600s. After the Venetian experience, there was no shortage of commissions for the two of them, who were active in Lucca for the Church of San Tommaso in Pelleria and in particular in Rome, where in 1675 they were elected members of the Academy of S. Luca. Among the Roman works we can mention three canvases for the ceiling of the church of Santa Croce and San Bonaventura and the frescoes for the gallery of Palazzo Colonna.

The sketch in question could refer to a commission that was lost or never completed. The liveliness and profound movement inherent in the canvas is underlined. The composition is rich but well-calibrated, the brushwork fresh, rapid and full of vibration. The figures, as typical of the sketches, stretch and parade with great grace and elegance. Although the training that took place under Pietro da Cortona is important in all their work, it must be highlighted how the influence of Venetian painting allowed the two artists not to accentuate the swollen flow of some of his compositions.

Their works are preserved not only in private collections at Palazzo Corsini in Rome, the Gemaldegalerie in Dresden, the County Museum in Los Angeles or the Civic Museum in Treviso.

– ORLANDI PA, Pictorial Abecedario, Bologna, 1704

– AA.VV., Italian Baroque: Two Centuries of Painting in the Molinari Pradelli Collection, Milan, 1995, pp.182-183

With Ars Antiqua it is possible to defer all amounts up to €7.500 at ZERO INTEREST, for a total of 15 INSTALLMENTS.

E.g. Total €4.500 = Monthly installment €300 for 15 months.

E.g. Total €3.600 = Monthly installment €720 for 5 months.

For amounts exceeding €7.500 or for a longer period of time (over 15 installments), we can provide a personalized payment.

Contact us directly to get the best quote.

LIVE

– SUNDAY 17.00pm – 21.00pm Dig. terr. 126 + 813 SKY

– Streaming on our website www.arsantiquasrl.com and on our social networks Facebook and Youtube

All the works proposed by Ars Antiqua are sold accompanied by a certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law and an accurate information sheet.

It is possible to see the works directly at the showroom gallery in Milan, in via Pisacane 55 and 57.

We personally organize transport and deliveries of the works, both for Italy and abroad.