The Muse Urania as an Allegory of Geometry, Antiveduto Gramatica (Siena, 1571 – Rome, 1626) Workshop

Antiveduto Gramatica's workshop (Siena, 1571 – Rome, 1626)

Imperiale Gramatica (Rome, 1599 – 1634) (?)

oil on canvas – Dimensions (cm): canvas 116 x 84, with frame 139 x 107

Provenance: Hargesheimer, Auction House Düsseldorf, 16 March 2019 (lot 1788) – See details

This beautiful painting, in an excellent state of conservation, presents the portrait of a young girl in an allegorical dress, where with her sumptuous figure she takes the form of Urania, one of the nine Muses, figures of Greek mythology, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who in the Greek religion represented the supreme ideal of Art and the symbols of the highest declinations of human thought.

Goddess of astronomy and geometry or, more broadly, of the natural sciences, the beautiful Urania holds a compass in her hand, symbol of the discipline of which she is the protector and emblem of the exact sciences.

The clothing of the depicted woman attests that we are in the presence of a girl with aristocratic origins: the quality of the fabrics, the transparent organza, the velvet and the satin quilted with gold trimmings, the dominant color of the passionate red, combine with refined and precious jewels.

Represented in our canvas dressed in a dress that evokes the armor of a knight, although the details are extremely feminine, she is wrapped in a blue cloak (typical color of the muse Urania) and crowned with a veil knotted like a turban stopped by a jeweled tiara .

The style characteristics as well as the period of execution of our qualitative canvas lead us without hesitation to the work of a painter close to the Caravaggio-esque Antiveduto Gramatica (Siena, 1571 – Rome, 1626), even if we cannot exclude the direct intervention of the master . Painter active in Rome in the first thirty years of the 1590th century, Antiveduto Grammatica was already an established artist around XNUMX, with notable clients, such as Cardinal del Monte and Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga; he made use of valuable collaborators, first of all his son Imperiale, a direct successor of his father's models and very close to his style, although naturally more immature in his ways than him.

Placed among the leading figures of international Caravaggism, also active in the areas of Rome and Naples, Antiveduto Gramatica represents the peak of realistic painting in Siena during the first half of the seventeenth century.

To confirm the proposed attribution, it is sufficient to compare our canvas with others by the master who, although known for his numerous religious depictions, did not fail to combine profane, allegorical and mythological subjects. The portraits produced by Gramatica share, in fact, very similar physical typologies, especially the female ones, with round and idealized faces, dressed in sumptuous clothes treated with delicacy. Furthermore, his drawing is sharp and the lighting shows strong contrasts, reaching an intensity of great impact.

The light shapes the figure and the contrast with the shadows creates an excellent rendering of the volumes. The figures, in particular, portrayed with powerful close-ups, evoke Caravaggio models, which we can justify with the probable direct influence during the Roman stay. Even the gestures are studied and rendered with great elegance, her gaze directed at the manual and the eloquence of the gesture with which she holds the compass make the Muse seductive.

The conditions of the painting are excellent: the work has been cleaned and relined, and is presented in all its splendor, without significant restorations or retouching.

It is possible to consult the photographic material of the painting before the conservative restoration. The work is completed by a lacquered and gilded wooden frame.