Italian School of the late 17th century. Circle of GUIDO RENI (Calvenzano di Vergato, Bologna, 1575 - Bologna, 1642).
"The Virgin Watching over the Child's Sleep.
Oil on canvas.
In need of cleaning. It has patches on the back.
Measurements: 76 x 99 cm; 94 x 114 cm (frame).
Copy of "The Virgin watching over the child's sleep" original piece by Guido Reni, which is in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery in Rome. This great masterpiece has subsequently been reproduced by great masters such as Salvador Maella (Valencia, 1739 - Madrid, 1819).
Judging by its formal and stylistic characteristics, the present work was executed by a painter from the Guido Reni circle, the undisputed master of Roman-Bolognese classicism along with Albani and Domenichino. We are therefore dealing with a contemporary of the artist who copied the work at the same time as the master painted it.
The undisputed master of Roman-Bolognese classicism alongside Albani and Domenichino, Guido Reni was undoubtedly the best of the three. Closely linked to the Carracci family and to the city of Bologna, they all had a similar career. They trained in Bologna with Denys Calvaert, and then went on to the Accademia degli Incamminati, directed by Ludovico Carraci. In 1600 Reni arrived in Rome, where he worked with Annibale Carracci in the Galleria Farnese. His best period began in these years; in 1609, on Annibale's death, Reni became the head of the classicist school. In the city he was the protégé of Scipione Borghese, the future Pope Paul V, for whom the painter produced one of his most important works, "La Aurora" (Palazzo Rospigliosi). It reveals something that would always be characteristic of Reni's style, his admiration for ancient sculpture. Starting from classical statues, he developed an ideal of beauty and perfection that would be greatly admired by subsequent painters. In 1614 he returned to Bologna for good. Reni's style evolved in a clear direction, becoming more and more sculptural and cold, more and more fully classicist. His mature work was characterised by a cold, silvery palette. Finally, from the 1930s onwards, his style became sketchy, with an unfinished appearance and a tendency towards monochrome, of great interest from a technical as well as a formal point of view.Guido Reni is currently represented in the most important art galleries all over the world, including the Prado Museum, the Hermitage, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the National Gallery in London, among many others.