Four Panels Decorated With Grotesques

Four panels decorated with grotesques, Piedmontese manufacture, Italy, first half of the 17th century
Oil on canvas, 133 x 114 cm

The four rectangular panels were designed to serve as overdoors in an aristocratic palace, as can be seen from the presence of trompe l’oeil that imitate dark wooden architraves.
The decorative apparatus, in neoclassical style, is composed of a central tondo that is differentiated in the four panels by the presence of different divinities, which we can recognize as Mars, Venus, Athena and a fourth unidentified goddess; the almond-shaped medallions emulate both in the chromatic choices and in the reliefs the Roman age cameos. On the sides of the medals two fauns, identifiable thanks to the goat hair and the Pan flute, hold a square-shaped semi-frame. The two satyrs, the half-frame, the floral motifs and even the buttons surrounding the cameo are painted to simulate gilded bronze, embellishing the fine workmanship.
The arrangement of the frieze recalls Roman grotesques: in fact, during the 17th century, with the rediscovery of the city of Pompeii and the subsequent excavations, contemporary interest in late ancient art was reborn.