17th Century Old Oil Painting On Canvas

"The punishment of Marsyas" Giovanni Stefano Danedi dit Montalto Beautiful painting representing a very interesting passage from mythology represented by the metamorphosis of Ovid, the elements of the punishment are faithfully represented; the lyre on the arm of Apollo, the suffering figure of Marsyas who, tied to a tree, pays for his musical talent with his life and finally Apollo who is ready to flay him. The painting is completed by a beautiful carved wooden frame gilded with gold leaf. Size of the canvas = 90 X 70 Dimensions with frame = 118 X 91 cm The punishment of Marsyas the myth: it is the sad story of Marsyas, the satyr who challenged a god, albeit with music. It all started when the goddess Artemis invented the flute. Although she was a great player, the other Olympians laughed at her. One day, looking at himself in a lake while he was playing, he realized that his face was totally distorted, or that while he was playing, his cheeks were swelling and reddening and thus he was losing the grace that characterized him. . He then decided to throw away the flute. When Marsyas found it, he started playing it and quickly became very skilled. He then decided to challenge Apollo with his lyre on his shoulder, it would be the king of Phrygia, Midas, the judge of the competition. After listening to them, Midas decreed that the winner was Marsyas. Furious Apollo added a new test to the race. The winner would be the one who managed to play the instrument backwards. If this was possible with the lyre, it was not at all possible with the flute. Midas therefore declared Apollo the winner and he wanted revenge by stripping poor Marsyas. Giovanni Stefano Danedi (or Doneda), known as Montalto (Treviglio, January 5, 1612 - Milan, September 19, 1690). Along with his older brother, Giuseppe is the greatest representative of this family of painters from Treviso who worked in Lombardy until the beginning of the 18th century. His artistic training took place in the Milanese cultural fabric of those years and was influenced by the figurative influence of the greatest artists of the early 17th century in Ambros: Morazzone, Cerano, Giulio Cesare and Camillo Procaccini, Carlo Francesco Nuvolone. In 1641, with his brother Giuseppe, he collaborated on the large fresco representing the Assumption in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Pavia. Between 1641 and 1648 the two brothers remained in Rome, where they learned to know and appreciate new languages and pictorial suggestions, coming into contact with the works of Pietro da Cortona. A large part of the artistic production of Montalto concerns the sacred painting on the Lombard territory; no less important, however, is also the contribution to the baroque decoration of a secular theme, in the Lombard villas and the palaces of illustrious families, such as the Borromeo and the Arese. From 1648, after his stay in Rome, his style was increasingly influenced by Baroque painting. This is attested both by the frescoes in the presbytery of the Cathedral of Monza, from 1648, and the later frescoes in the Villa Frisiani Mereghetti in Corbetta (1656), those in the sixth and seventh chapel on the right in the Certosa di Pavia ( 1671) -1688), the decoration of the XVII chapel and the dome of the sanctuary of Sacro Monte di Varallo, the Virgin, Sant'Anna and the Child Jesus in the Church of the Holy Crucifix in Asso and the altarpiece with the Assumption of the Virgin in the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Giubiasco.