Cesari, Giuseppe ('il Cavaliere d'Arpino') 1568... Lot 1046

Cesari, Giuseppe ('il Cavaliere d'Arpino') 1568 Arpino - 1640 Rome - and workshop 1635-1640. Oil on wood. 52 x 37,5cm. Framed. Provenance: Private ownership, Italy. From the Renaissance to the modern age, artists have repeatedly chosen the pictorial motif of the liberation of Andromeda by Perseus for their works. On the one hand, they had to transpose the ancient text from Ovid's Metamorphoses, which in a Christian reading could also be seen as an example of the power of love (Omnia vincit amor). On the other hand, the story of the young naked princess presented as a victim of the sea monster Ketos offered artists, clients, and collectors a pretext to depict and enjoy the visual charms of a naked, young, beautiful woman. In the series of the many realizations of this motif, the representation by Giuseppe Cesari, which we can offer here, takes a special status. The Roman painter, who was a \"megastar\" of his time and is considered in art history as a pioneer and mediator between Mannerism and Baroque in Rome, was a patron and teacher of Guido Reni and Caravaggio. As the son of the painter Muzio di Polidoro from Arpino, he was perhaps promoted by him at an early age. Already at the age of 15 he was considered a trained painter, who was employed for a regular salary and was probably already a member of the painters' guild. Giuseppe Cesari's fame increased with each commission, mainly for frescoes in Roman churches and the palazzi of the most influential families. From a very young age he worked on the decoration of the loggias of the Vatican Palace with and under the pontificate of Pope Clement VIII. (1592 - 1605) he was considered the most important official painter of Rome, which was also reflected in his election as chairman of the Luke's Guild in 1599. In 1600, the Pope awarded Cesari the Order of the Knights of Christ after he completed the magnificent fresco of the Assumption of Christ in the Latr