Alessandro Magnasco, called the Lissandrino (1667... Lot 114

Alessandro Magnasco, called the Lissandrino (1667 - 1749) SOLDIERS AND PITOCCHI IN AN INTERIOR oil on canvas, 55x116 cm The work is accompanied by an expertise of Dr. Laura Muti on a photograph Bibliography Laura Muti and Daniele de Sarno Prignano, A tu per tu con la pittura. Studi e ricerche di storia dell'arte, Faenza 2002, p. 329 The work presented here, "Sodati e pitocchi in un interno", depicts an interior of an inn with a multitude of characters intent on various occupations, a theme that is also usual in Magnasco's work. According to the authoritative opinion of Dr. Laura Muti we can well observe the typical formulation that the Lissandrino "realizes to give life to the story drawing on his iconographic repertoire, a leit-motive decidedly singular turned to illustrate a world of necessity and misery, just as typical and unmistakable is the handwriting that translates the theme into painting, on the edge of an inimitable expressiveness, correlated by a rapid and nervous brush stroke that characterizes, precisely, Magnasco's particular language". According to Dr. Muti, the work can certainly be compared to other works by Magnasco, such as the well-known canvases depicting the "Architectural ruins with pitocchi and soldiers" and the "Soldiers and lazzaroni among the ruins", both preserved in Brescia in a private collection (cf. L. Muti - D. de Sarno Prignano, Alessandro Magnasco, 1994, pp. 205, 223, cat. 34, 35, 128, figs. 215, 218, 219) to which the painting in question is related in style and quality.