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Monk In Prayer - Silvestro Chiesa (genova 1623-1657)

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Monk In Prayer - Silvestro Chiesa (genova 1623-1657)
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Object description :

"Monk In Prayer - Silvestro Chiesa (genova 1623-1657)"
Magnificent 17th century painting of a praying monk attributed to the Genoese painter Silvestro Chiesa

Anna Orlando wrote of our painting; This is an important discovery, since few works by this talented painter and naturalist of the Genoese school are known, partly because he died "in his youth" during the plague of 1657, as his first biographer Raffaele Soprani (Le Vite de' Pittori... 1657, p. 217) recorded. Nonetheless, Chiesa had "great success" in his time, as Soprani describes it. The biographer mentions some of his works designed in Genoa for the churches of Padri delle Scuole Pie and Nostra Signora dei Servi. One of them has been preserved in its entirety and, given Soprani's reliable attribution, provides a guide for the reconstruction of his oeuvre. This is an altarpiece, now on display in the Strada Nuova Museums at Palazzo Bianco in Genoa, showing Blessed Gioacchino Piccolomini curing an epileptic boy. Certain stylistic and technical details - from the color of the background and the palette leaning towards earthy brown tones to the depiction of the drapery and the way the hands have been executed - are very similar to the key work of Silvestro Chiesa and allow the artistic attribution of the painting before us. The powerful naturalism that characterizes the style of this master is also evident here. This can also be seen in this new and expressive figure of the praying monk with convincing naturalism. It's a naturalism that can also be found in the little-known museum-quality work The Suffering of Job at the Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki. Even more convincing is the depiction attributed to Chiesa of the blind Homer dictating his verses in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin. Here too, clear comparisons can be made, both in terms of the general mood of the two works, based on an undoubtedly realistic approach, albeit tempered by sentimentality, and in terms of certain details in the execution. . The representation of the drapery is still typical of Silvestro Chiesa. The clear and insistent pleats create suggestive plays of shadow and light. Chiesa possessed the art of combining the realism of Caravaggio with the calmer and more sentimental approach of many Genoese painters - from Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari to Gioacchino Assereto, from Orazio De Ferrari to Luciano Borzone (the latter was not by chance his master). We thank Anna Orlando, Genoa, who confirmed the attribution of this painting based on a high-resolution photograph.

A copy of the expertise will be given to the purchaser. The canvas measures 68 by 54cms and with the frame ca. 88 by 74cms.

Provenance: private collection USA

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Arte-Fact Fine Art
Tableaux du 17ième au 19ième

Monk In Prayer - Silvestro Chiesa (genova 1623-1657)
1030999-main-63737aee8c2e5.jpg
003233616981
003233616981


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