Felice Torelli (Verona 1667-Bologna 1748) - Diana... Lot 1

Felice Torelli (Verona 1667-Bologna 1748) - Diana and Endymion, Oval, 17th century Cm 175, In frame Diameter cm 213 Oil on canvas Expert opinion by Professor Claudio Strinati: "This is a very refined painting, born to tell the truth, in a rectangular format and then enlarged on all sides to adapt it to an oval formatprobably imposed by a new frame, as is very evident even to a simple observation with the naked eye.The painting recounts with extreme finesse and delicacy, certainly inferred from similar prototypes by Francesco Albani, the famous pupil of AnnibaleCarracci, the famous mythological fable of the goddess Diana, goddess of the moon who appears to the beloved sleeping shepherd Endymion to join him, producing, according to a particularly widespread version of the fable,only daughters, all female and all of superb beauty. The painting under consideration here appears to be inspired by certain iconographic fictions attributable above all to the Bolognese tradition and in particular to Guercino.The author is, in fact, an illustrious descendant of Guercino, Felice Torelli,originally from Verona but trained, and very well, at the glorious school of thebolognese, precisely, Gian Gioseffo del Sole whose influence on our paintingappears evident. Torelli, a member of a distinguished family of artists (his brother Giuseppe was a great musician) developed a stylistic line of consecration of paintingmitology of which our painting is an excellent demonstration.Our work dates from the early eighteenth century when Torelli, at the height of a glorious career, founded the celebrated AccademiaClementina in Bologna. At that time he worked extensively on mythological painting, ademphasizing the masterpiece of Diana and the Nymphs now in the National Museum in Warsaw with which our painting can be usefully compared. Excellent state of preservation. In faith, Claudio Strinati"