Saint Michael Archangel, Guido Reni (bologna 1575 - 1642) Workshop Of

Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 - 1642), workshop of
probably Giovanni Andrea Sirani (Bologna, 1610 - 1670)

Saint Michael Archangel

17th century

oil on canvas
Dimensions: 142 x 112 cm./ with frame 164 x 135 cm.

Provenance: Tuscan Collection, Lucca

We share a work of great importance, an imposing oil painting on canvas depicting the famous St. Michael the Archangel, commissioned from Guido Reni in 1635 for the Church of the Capuchins, in Via Veneto in Rome (PHOTO 1), erected as a gift from Cardinal Antonio Barberini (1569-1646), brother of Urban VIII.

After a long and intense training in Bologna, culminating at the Carracci Academy, 27-year-old Guido Reni went to Rome in 1602, soon becoming a celebrated interpreter of the taste of the most culturally influential circles, and winning the protection of great personalities such as Popes Paul V, Urban VIII and Scipione Borghese.

The canvas shows the Archangel Michael, engaged in the battle against Evil, and depicted as a young man of rare beauty, strong and delicate at the same time, who, with his sword drawn, repels an irritated devil to hell, whose head he tramples with his foot; the soft draperies envelop the angel's body with an intense classicism, where a balanced composition concentrates the observer's attention on his angelic face.

Great was the recognition and esteem of his contemporaries, and the painting was immediately an incredible success, also due to the controversy it aroused on the part of the Pamphili family, a family that had always been in conflict with the Barberini, who commissioned the canvas.

In fact, Reni, having learnt that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphili, the future Pope Innocent X, had slandered him by denigrating his work, in revenge would impersonate the Devil with his own face. Reni's cunning was to exploit the historical competition between two of the most influential families in seventeenth-century Rome, the Barberini and the Pamphili, for his own personal revenge, while at the same time giving his work sudden celebrity.

We can state that the proposed canvas, considering the time of its execution and its superlative quality, is certainly the work of an artist from Reni's prolific workshop.

Giovan Andrea Sirani (Bologna, 1610 - 1670), one of Reni's favourites, deserves to be mentioned, so much so that the master even entrusted him with the task of reproducing the cartoons on the canvases and sketching them, continually putting him in contact with the prototypes of the works. With regard to the work in question, we know of a canvas, made by Giovan Andrea Sirani, which very faithfully replicates its subject and characteristics, and which is now housed in the Bob Jones Museum in South Carolina (United States of America) (PHOTO 2).


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The painting is sold complete with an antique frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

We take care of and organise the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.

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