Ernest Daret

Oil on canvas painting, 80 x 62 cm without frame and 105 x 82 cm with a frame of the time, by the painter Ernest Daret, depicting the myth of Diana and Actaeon. According to the myth, during a hunting trip, Actaeon provoked Diana's wrath when he surprised her bathing with her companions in the shadow of the Gargaphian forest. The summer heat, in fact, induced her to put aside her clothes and refresh herself, interrupting the hunt. The goddess, to prevent the hunter from uttering a word about what he had seen, transformed the young man into a deer by sprinkling water on his face. Actaeon realized his transformation only when he reached a fountain while running away, where he could see himself reflected in the water. Meanwhile, the hunter was reached by his 50 dogs, made furious by Artemis, who, not recognizing him, tore their old master to pieces. Once Actaeon was devoured, the dogs began searching for their master throughout the forest, filling it with mournful cries. Later, they arrived in the cave of Chiron, who gave them an image of their master to alleviate their pain. If we were to choose a work that illustrates with illuminating evidence the contamination between pictorial schools and strongly characterized referential platforms, the painting in question would become a true exemplum. The visual impact directs, in fact, the critical investigation towards the Flemish background, which sees Jan Brueghel the Elder (Brussels, 1586-Antwerp, 1625) and his school. Depending on the geographical areas of the respective schools, the successful subject is shaped by the sensitivity of the artists, in turn conditioned by the cultural background of reference, which in the aforementioned Brueghel favors the minute investigation of reality, taking inspiration from the classical narrative to offer the viewer an "encyclopedic" review of plants and animals. This determines a compositional cut that strongly emphasizes the foreground, populated by a dense array of characters, including both Diana and Actaeon. This latter work testifies to the undoubted penetration of Nordic culture into Northern Italy, which already in the Baroque era boasts an extraordinary assimilation. Compositional assonances with the painting under study appear undoubtedly stringent - to reiterate what has just been mentioned - although the latter differs sharply on a stylistic and formal level, the author of our painting transfers the same theme onto the canvas through a fluid and immediate language, obliterating the accurate writing and the lenticular attention to detail in favor of atmosphere and the power of color. These last ingredients are also basic for the Venetian pictorial recipe. Never before have we encountered such a courageous and fascinating contamination between two pictorial schools - which also represent two distinct visions of the world and art - implemented by a master raised in Flanders and emigrated to the territories of the Serenissima, as happened to Ernest Daret, better known as Monsù Ernesto (Brussels 1670 - Venice post 1725). Known for his landscapes with genre scenes, in this case he proves to be a personality full of stimuli and much more complex than pictorial testimonies have so far transmitted to us. One of his guiding characters, unfailing in every work, is a wide perspective rich in nature in the background with instead a rich foreground of characters, as we note in the construction of this work. The ductus, moreover, lively and captivating, expresses in the material brushstroke the spirit of the "pioneers" that is of the first generation of Flemish landscape and veduta painters who arrived in Venice, who would lay the foundations to give a new identity to the "foreign genres", inaugurating the "magnificent fates" of the golden century. The paintings and art objects published here are my exclusive property and consequently are always available to be viewed in person, by appointment, in my exhibition venues located in Sanremo and Brescia. The work, like all our items, is sold with a photographic certificate FIMA of authenticity and lawful origin; this document identifies the object adding value to the article. We personally take care of and organize the packaging and shipping of works of art with insurance worldwide. Dr. Riccardo Moneghini Art Historian