Natale Carta (messina 1790-1884) “ariane” Italian School

Oil on canvas representing “Ariane”
Signed lower right N Carta
At sight: 60cm x 48cm
Frame: 74cm x 62cm

It may be a study - because our painting is thin, almost a “tempera”, the oil very diluted with water which gives this incredibly translucent effect - Ariadne being represented by Natale Carta in the painting "Bacchus and Arianne" kept at the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome (see behind photo)

NATALE CARTA: Sicilian painter , born in Messina. He left for Palermo then Naples where he met the Princess of Paternò who recognized him as having a certain talent for painting and granted him a seven-year pension. He moved to Rome and studied drawing and nudes there and began his first exercises with a brush. His illustrious teacher is none other than Camussini. One of his first paintings was the "Santa Rosalia" which is in the church of Santa Maria d'Istria in Rome which praises the young painter. Then Francis I bought “Atala receiving the extreme anointing of her father Aubry” and Atala brought to the sepulcher” after having seen them exhibited in Naples and had them placed in the gallery of paintings at Capo di Monte, where they are still located. He also ordered two paintings of sacred subjects “The Ecstasy of Blessed Nicolò de Longobardi” and one “San Francesco di Paola”. On the orders of the Queen of Sardinia he painted “Edoardo di Savoia” a painting which encouraged the officers to fight in pointing to the coat of arms of Savoy facing the Viennese. This painting will contribute to the glory of the artist. Some works including the main ones: For Prince Alessandro Torlonia, he frescoed the hall of the palace in Piazza Venezia, he painted the “Three Graces” surrounded by loves for the villa of the same prince. For the vault of the hall of the palace of Duke Marino Torlonia at Porta Pia, he masterfully developed “Mentor and Telemachus received by the diva Calypso” Two large frescoes including “miracle of San Paolo” for the church of San Paolo fuori le mura . The “Madonna Del Miracolo” in the church of Sant'Andréa delle Fratte is his work and also many portraits exhibited at the Carta contasi “Francesco II of Naples “He is a member of many academies, The Cross of Francis I, he also receives the Tuscan and Papal Knights of Santo Stefano and San Gregorio.