Italian school of the XIX century. After GUIDO RENI (Calvenzano di Vergato, Bologna, 1575 - Bologna, 1642).
"Aurora", ca. 1850.
Oil on canvas.
Signed with initials on the back.
This canvas faithfully continues the Baroque ceiling fresco painted in 1614 by Guido Reni for the Casino, or garden house, adjacent to the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi, Rome. The Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi paintings were commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a prominent patron of the arts, and designed by Giorgio Vasanzio and Carlo Maderno. Thus, we are faced with the representation of Aurora, a work determined by the classical beauty that characterized the Roman-Bolognese master, worked in a sober style that imitates the poses of the ancient Roman sarcophagi exhibited in the Cardinal's collection.
The undisputed master of Roman-Bolognese classicism along with 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 trajectory. They trained in Bologna with Denys Calvaert, and then moved on to the Accademia degli Incamminati, directed by Ludovico Carraci. In 1600 Reni arrived in Rome, where he worked with Annibale Carracci in the Farnese Gallery. His best period begins in these years; in 1609, at Annibale's death, Reni remains as the head of the classicist school. In the city he will be protected by Scipione Borghese, the future Pope Paul V, for whom the painter will realize one of his most important works, "La Aurora" (Palazzo Rospigliosi). It shows something that will always be characteristic of Reni's style, his admiration for ancient sculpture. Starting from the classical statues, he develops an ideal of beauty and perfection that will be much admired by the following painters. In 1614 he returned to Bologna for good. Reni's style evolves in a clear direction, more and more sculptural and cold, more and more fully classicist. His mature work will be characterized by a cold palette, with silvery reflections. 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 around 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.

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Measurements: 205 x 85; 230 x 100

Restorations are visible on the back.