The myth of Apollo and Daphne, Giovanni Angelo Canini (Rome, 1608 – Rome, 1666)

''I thank you for bringing to my attention this qualitative and interesting mythological scene (oil on canvas, 84 x 100 cm) which refers to an episode narrated by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, precisely the myth of Apollo and Daphne, one of the most famous unrequited loves in classical mythology, an episode taken from ancient Latin culture, and revived starting from the Renaissance, such a poignant love story with profound symbolic meanings.

Daphne, daughter of the river god Peneus, represented below on the right, is chased by Apollo who, struck by a golden arrow from Cupid, hidden with a mocking smile among the bush, falls madly in love with her. We see him here, pervaded by an irrepressible passion, while he tries in vain to grab the girl who, hit by Cupid himself with a lead arrow, will instead be destined to run away and reject Apollo's love.

Exhausted by this continuous escape, Daphne reaches her father, the river god Peneus, who to save her transforms her into a laurel tree, with her limbs losing their human appearance and becoming twigs.

I have gone at length in the description of this scene because, despite being a subject often taken up in painting especially starting from the second half of the 17th century and in the first half of the following century, it is very rare to find examples of it with such attention to detail that make one aware of the succession of events.

Furthermore, despite its considerable dimensions, typical of an aristocratic picture gallery, it has a clear and well-defined figurative imprint in its contours, together with a vivid pictorial imprint but with frozen colors, which reveal the presence of an author also knowledgeable about engraving. which probably constituted his main activity together with the constant practice of drawing.

In fact, the painting taken into consideration here can be traced back to the hand of Giovanni Angelo Canini (Rome 1608 – 1666).

A testimony of certain autography which could be linked to the series of works created by Canini for Cardinal Camillo Astaldi, a patron who in 1645-50 had commissioned him various pictorial decorations with profane subjects (some signed), including "Stories of Rinaldo and Armida ”, intended for his Theodoli Castle in Sambuci (near Tivoli), many of which have been lost.

Datable to around 1650, the work reflects Canini's emancipation from the initial prevailing stylistic approach based on Domenichino, of whom he was a direct pupil until the master's departure for Naples, remaining however tied to his classicist orbit, but affirming his evident also interested in the growing affirmations of the Baroque.

In fact, the present painting, although created with a figurative language that is still strictly classicistic, follows a narrative taste of an already baroque nature, in the detailed description of the events, in which the human figure plays a leading role, despite clear arboreal elements in the background.

With regard to his privately intended pictorial activity, unfortunately largely lost or obscured by deviant attributions, it is worth remembering that Giovanni Angelo Canini had acquired significant credit among the Roman cultural elite, thanks to the close relationships of esteem with Queen Cristina of Sweden, as well as the documented relations with the Savoy court. ”