LIBERI. Venus, nymphs and putti. Eternal Father... Lot 71

LIBERI. Venus, nymphs and putti. Eternal Father with little angels. Drawings. LIBERI, Peter. Venus, nymphs and putti. Eternal Father with little angels. Drawings.1605 - 1687 Two drawings on a sheet of mm. 286x332. Sanguine pastel. Strong laid ivory paper. "Three crescent moons" watermark. Collection stamp. Good condition. These are two important preparatory drawings: on the recto the Venus with cherubs, in shaded bleeding, is a theme that Liberi frequents in different ways and that he uses for refined oil paintings; to the Eternal Father, in perspective from below, is a study for the altarpiece of the Salute church in Venice, and allows us to date the sheet, certainly before 1656. Crispo: "The growing success of Liberi's manner, with his careful blend of Baroque language and cultured quotations from the Venetian tradition, persuaded the Provveditori above the votive temple of the Salute to commission him the altarpiece with suppliant Venice and Saint Anthony of Padua who intercedes at the Trinity for the cessation of the siege of Candia, 1652- 1656, in which Liberi takes up the monumental staging and the lightened palette of Veronese. " Alberto Crispo, DBI, 65, 2005. See Stefania Mason Rinaldi, file a239, in Venice and the defense of the Levant. From Lepanto to Candia 1570-1670, exhibition catalog, Venice 1986, pp. 155-156. For the watermark: Briquet, II, pp. 314-25. Provenance: unidentified collection stamp.