Cesare Gennari (Cento, 1637 - Bologna, 1688)

Cesare Gennari (Cento, 1637 - Bologna, 1688) Rinaldo Holds Back His Beloved Armida Oil on canvas, 119 x 164 cm. Framed 141 x 189 cm. The work is accompanied by a critical study written by Prof. Emilio Negro (Bologna) Complete details of the artwork: https://www.antichitacastelbarco.it/it/prodotto/cesare-gennari--rinaldo-e-armida This valuable work can be attributed to the production of Cesare Gennari (Cento, 1637 - Bologna, 1688), and depicts the episode of the last canto of the heroic poem ‘Jerusalem Delivered’ by Torquato Tasso, which stars the two famous lovers Rinaldo and Armida, one a knight of the Christian army, the other a young and beautiful sorceress sent to help the Saracens. The episode revolves around the terrible battle between the Crusaders and the Egyptian army, during which Rinaldo and Armida challenge each other to a duel. The sorceress, after trying in vain to strike the young warrior of whom she is still hopelessly in love, disheartened, decides to kill herself with the same arrow used for the fight, but her desperate gesture is prevented by the prompt intervention of the hero. It is worth noting first of all that the painting is an interesting replica with variations derived from a Guercino invention (another varied version attributed to Benedetto Gennari of smaller size [oil on canvas cm. 110 x 42], is at the Chamber of Deputies in Rome but on deposit from Naples, from the Museum and Royal Bosco of Capodimonte), which only takes up the general layout and style of the works created by the great master from Cento, generally with the help of his valid collaborators. Therefore, our canvas shows its evident belonging to the close circle of this great Emilian seventeenth-century master: its author manages in fact to give the composition an absolutely singular solar luminosity that illuminates the features of the serene faces and emphasizes the illusionary softness of the complexions, hair and fabrics. Such effective contrasts of light, obtained with warm tones and a rich and pasty pictorial texture, give the painting examined here a pleasantness of typically Guercino style. For these unavoidable reasons, it is possible to link it to the modus pingendi of one of the most valuable pupils of the master from Cento, as well as his nephew: Cesare Gennari (Cento, 1637 - Bologna, 1688), considered rightly one of the best talents resulting from the prestigious teaching of the master. Son of Lucia, sister of Guercino, and Ercole Gennari, also his collaborator, Cesare was introduced as a child into the workshop of his uncle together with his brother Benedetto; both became appreciated painters and inherited all the possessions and the painting studio after the death of the master. If Benedetto decided to move abroad, to the courts of Paris and London, where he spent most of his existence, Cesare remained instead permanently in Bologna, where he was very active and appreciated for the great purity of his vigorous painting of naturalistic style: characteristics that are punctually found also in our canvas. This Rinaldo who restrains Armida reveals in fact the independent typological characters, although in close connection with the culture of Guercino, which are those usual to Cesare Gennari: the comparison with his other works allows in fact to recognize the typical qualities, in addition to declare decidedly individual extremities that are found, almost overlapping, in other similar paintings of his. As is clear, in the two works mentioned the same characters of our painting return, namely a type of flowing and soft painting that recalls that of Guercino but with very personalized traits, characteristic of the best works made by Cesare Gennari in the years of his full artistic maturity. The painting is completed by an elegant gilded frame. For any information, please contact us.