Italian school of the XVIII century. Lot n° 48

Italian school of the XVIII century. "The flight". Oil on canvas. Relined. With Spanish frame of the nineteenth century. With restorations. Measurements: 70 x 97 cm; 81 x 107 cm (frame). We are in front of a completely narrative scene, starring a king who flees in terror from a violent character who tries to throw a stone at him, while an angry crowd clamors for his return at the foot of a sanctuary. The monarch, wearing a crown and royal robes, is protected by a group of Roman soldiers armed with spears. It is a baroque composition in its theatricality and expressiveness, a dramatic image that shows the convulsive moment they are living. Formally, this work is dominated by the influence of the Roman-Bolognese classicism of the Carracci and their followers, one of the two great currents of the Italian Baroque, together with Caravaggio's naturalism. Thus, the figures are monumental, with idealized faces and serene and balanced gestures, in an idealized representation based on classical canons. Also the rhetoric of the gestures, theatrical and eloquent, clearly baroque, is typical of the Italian classicism of the XVII century. It is also worth mentioning the importance of the chromatic aspect, very thoughtful, intoned and balanced, centered on basic ranges around red, ochre and blue. Also the way of composing the scene, with a circular rhythm and closed on one side with a temple, is typical of this school of baroque classicism.