Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini

Provenance: Lauro Bologna collection Published: Bolognese rooms The Lauro collection Nuova Alfa Editoriale Alexander contemplates the corpse of Darius Oil on canvas, 155 x 198 cm Bibliography: V. Sgarbi, For the catalog of Nicola Grassi The strong moral value of the episode, narrated by Plutarch, of Alexander thoughtful in front of the corpse of the enemy Darius, who died in battle, is restored thanks to the lowered vanishing point, which gives the scene a great monumentality, and the exceptionally vibrant use of light, which shaves the head of the soldier on the far left, highlights the overturned face and the naked torso of the slain leaving the body in shadow, breaks on Alexander's thoughtful forehead and explodes in the candid banner, victorious against the livid sky. It is in all respects a masterpiece by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, reached at the end of his training. Making it known for the first time, Vittorio Sgarbi recalled that another version of the painting was already known, with nearly identical dimensions, kept in the Museum of Soissons together with a pendant depicting Alexander and the family of Darius (see P. Rosenberg, Deux tableax de Gian Antonio Pellegrini au Musée de Soissons, in "Arte veneta", XXI, 1967, PP. 226-227). Compared to the version in the French museum, the version considered here is, according to the scholar, "even more coruscating with chiaroscuro and plastic effects" and connoted by "an accentuation of the characters, with a touch of vivid realism in the character that uncovers the face of Darius". As for the dating, while Rosenberg, studying the French painting, leaned towards the years of the Roman stay, between 1695 and 1699, Sgarbi preferred to think, for both versions, of an execution conducted around 1701-02, that is, in relation to the works performed after Pellegrini's return to Venice, such as the canvases of Palazzo Albrizzi. The clarification does not change the significance of this canvas as an early exploit of Pellegrini in the field of painting "da stanza." Sgarbi himself notes that "the painting is thus an important proof of a Pellegrini gloomy, nocturnal, dramatic, 'expressionist', more in the ways of Mattia Preti than in those of Luca Giordano, before the clearing that characterizes the mature Pellegrini, of which here is already sensitive the pen in the ways of Mattia Preti than in those of Luca Giordano, before the clearing that characterizes the mature Pellegrini, the loose and liquid brushstroke is sensitive". This latter peculiarity, detectable throughout the painting but especially in the group of soldiers on the right, constitutes from now on the hallmark of the artist, who still shows himself nevertheless nervous and shattered, of a first collusion with the Sebastiano Ricci of the Milanese frescoes of San Bernardino alle Ossa. It has been noted several times that Pellegrini initially appears better endowed than the older colleague, who will however cover a greater historical importance; and that at these dates, comparing this with the paintings licensed by Ricci in Parma, Pellegrini also seems more modern.