Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Italian Paintings on Copper from early in the 17th century

Francesco Albani
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus 
ca. 1620
oil on copper
Louvre
 
Francesco Albani
Daphne and Apollo
ca. 1615-20
oil on copper
Louvre

Guercino
Landscape with Concert
1617
oil on copper
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Abbi, musica bella,
anzi musa novella, abbiti il vanto
dele due chiare cetre
che le piante movean, movean le pietre.
Che val però col canto
vivificar le cose inanimate,
se nel tuo vivo cor morta è pietate?
O chiari, o degni onori,
porger l'anima ai tronchi e torla ai cori!
O belle, o ricche palme,
dando, la vita ai sassi, uccider l'alme!

You have, beautiful music
(new muse rather) the power 
of the two famous lyres [Orpheus and Amphion]
that moved the plants, moved the stones.
What avails it, however, 
to bring alive inanimate things with song
if in your living heart compassion is dead?
O shining, o worthy honors,
to give spirit to trees and take it from hearts!
O beautiful, o rich palms,
giving life to stones you kill souls!

 madrigal from Lira by Giambattista Marino (friend of musicians, friend of painters) published in Rome in 1614

Guercino
St Sebastian succored by two angels
1617
oil on copper
Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire

Guercino
Dead Christ Mourned by Two Angels
ca. 1617-18
oil on copper
National Gallery, London

Guercino
Vision of St Jerome
1619-20
oil on copper
Louvre

Domenichino
Lamentation
1603
oil on copper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Domenichino
Landscape with Burning Bush
ca. 1610-15
oil on copper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Orazio Gentileschi
Landscape with St Christopher
ca. 1605-10
oil on copper
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Orazio Gentileschi
David with the Head of Goliath
ca. 1610
oil on copper
Staatliche Museen, Berlin 

Palma il Giovane
Christ at the Probatic Pool
before 1628
oil on copper
private collection

Ludovico Carracci
Madonna and Child with Saints
1607
oil on copper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Cigoli (Lodovico Cardi)
Venus and Adonis
ca. 1600-1610
oil on copper
private collection

Cavaliere d'Arpino
Diana and Actaeon
1603
oil on copper
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest