Francesco Antoniani (1700/1710 – 1775) Pastoral Scenes Paintings Oil On Canvas,

Francesco Antoniani (Milan, 1700/1710 – Turin, 1775)
Pastoral scenes
(2) Oil on canvas, 90 x 102
Frames, 100 x 110

The pair of paintings examined has been assigned to Francesco Antoniani (1700/1710 – 1775) in the in-depth study conducted on the works by Dr. Cav. Arabella Cifani.
Known for the production of views and landscapes, Francesco Antoniani was the main exponent of a dynasty active since 1743 in the service of the House of Savoy to furnish the royal residences with landscapes, architectural capricci and seascapes. It is inevitable to take note of this commission to judge his works, which, as in this case, exhibit a pictorial technique of considerable refinement, characterized by large areas of color carried out with a lively brush and a peculiar play of light and shades, with lively figures. For the Piedmontese rulers he created landscapes intended as models for tapestries and paintings with the most varied subjects, also contaminating himself with the precepts of other important landscape painters active there, Scipione and Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli.
His eclecticism allowed him to be active in various representative environments of the Savoy court: in fact, he created the overdoors in the Queen's apartment, worked in the Dressing Room of the Stupinigi hunting lodge, decorated the dining room of the castle of Moncalieri and various spaces scattered between Venaria, Palazzo Reale and Palazzo Chiablese.
The pleasant rural scenes examined, as indicated by Dr. Cifani, are comparable with the well-documented cartoons for “Boscherecce” tapestries, outlined by him for the royal tapestry factory in Turin, in a sure and convincing way, as well as with some works of certain attribution passed on the antique market, where the identical atmosphere and conduction is found in the settings of the landscape elements, such as lateral perspective wings. The types of shepherds, their gestures and their arrangement in the scenes, as well as the way of rendering the atmospheric phenomena are precise. The groups of wayfarers and animals are mediated by the knowledge of Flemish prints, especially by Nicolaes Berchem.
In Dr. Cifani’s study, the canvases under examination are dated to 1750, based on stylistic comparisons.

Bibliography:
A. Cifani – F. Monetti, I piaceri e le grazie: collezionismo, pittura di genere e di paesaggio fra Sei e Settecento in Piemonte, Torino, 1993, Vol. I, pp. 111-112.
A. Cottino (a cura di), Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli. Un paesaggista alla corte dei Savoia e la sua epoca, catalogo della mostra, Torino 2001, p. 145.