ANTONIO DAVID Lot n° 47

(Venice, 1680 - 1737) Portrait of a gentleman, ca. 1730 Oil on convex copper, 58X43.5 cm The painting is a valuable and rare addition to the painter's catalog because of its remarkable aesthetic and conservation value. As we know, from 1686 David carried out his activity in Rome with extraordinary success, and his fame is documented by the prestige of his patrons. In this regard we recall the papal court, Cardinal Francesco Acquaviva d'Aragona, the Colonna, Corsini, Farnese, Patrizi, and Sacchetti families, but to the list we must also mention the great names of the European aristocracy, especially the Stuarts, who in exile in Rome in 1717 chose David as their official painter, opening to him the doors of English patronage. Returning to the work under consideration, it is clear that the painter was trained on the examples of Baroque-era portraiture, looking at the works of Giovanni Maria Morandi (1622; 1717), Agostino Masucci (1691-1758), Jacob Ferdinand Voet (1639-1700?) and especially Giovan Battista Gaulli known as Baciccio (1639-1709). However, his art reveals by refinement and chromatic intonation an early Rococo temperament, attentive to the pose of the effigies and the rendering of the garments, scrupulously attending to the details of fabrics and lace. At the same time, especially in the English portraits, the author arrives at outcomes of a subtle classicism that we will find in the works of Pompeo Batoni. These aspects are very well grasped in the work under review, which is extraordinarily sophisticated in technical execution and, not least, to be considered unique because of the exceptional size of the convex copper support. The work is accompanied by a critical file by Alessandro Agresti. Reference bibliography: A. Spiriti, S. Capelli, I David: due pittori tra Sei e Settecento, exhibition catalog, Milan 2004, ad vocem F. Petrucci, Portrait painting in Rome: the eighteenth century, Rome 2010, I, pp. 216-222; II, pp. 534-552