Sleeping Venus with Cupid, Marcantonio Franceschini (Bologna 1648 – 1729) Workshop of

Marcantonio Franceschini (Bologna 1648 – 1729) Workshop of

Sleeping Venus with Cupid

Oil on canvas (53 x 68 cm. – In frame 71 x 91 cm.)

Full details of the painting (click HERE)

Venus, the Roman goddess of love, is portrayed reclining, completely naked, languidly asleep with both arms behind her head; standing beside her is her son Cupid, the god of desire, who is pointing to something off-screen.

The seductive image is presented to us in a hilly setting, in perfect harmony with nature, and in a restrained, sensual and dreamy atmosphere: her nudity and pose symbolize ideal beauty; she rests on white and red drapes, symbolic colors that respectively indicate the coexistence of pure platonic love (the white sheet covering her pubic area) and passionate love (the red pillow).

This is a work of great fascination, both for the subject immortalized and for the pictorial execution, showing us the peculiar characteristics of the Bolognese school, highlighting a quality of draftsmanship and drawing that suggest an eighteenth-century date of execution.

The work reveals a Rococo sensibility merging with a careful classicist rigor, while also presenting lexical elements drawn from the early seventeenth-century culture typical of Domenichino and Francesco Albani: our painting draws inspiration from a work by the latter, specifically "Adonis Led by Venus to the Cupids," created in 1621 by Albani for the Duke of Mantua (Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. 12, https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010062424 ). In our case, the artist has extrapolated the detail of Venus with Cupid (bottom right in the original composition).

Going into the attribution details, we can easily connect the canvas, created in the early 18th century, to the workshop of the master Marcantonio Franceschini (Bologna 1648 – 1729), who often engaged with the lexical elements taken from early 17th-century culture, in particular from Francesco Albani, arriving at a classicist sensibility of the most refined levels.

The pictorial texture, the analysis of the forms, the scenic setting, the typology of the faces and some Morellian details find clear points of contact and comparison with the best production of the artist, who proved to be one of the best interpreters of Bolognese art between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The painting is sold complete with a pleasant 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.

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 procedure are included.

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