Workshop of Francesco Graziani, known as Ciccio Napoletano, (active in Naples and Rome in the second half of the 17th century)

Workshop of Francesco Graziani, known as Ciccio Napoletano (active in Naples and Rome in the second half of the 17th century) Four Battle Scenes (4) Oil on canvas, 20 x 46 cm Francesco Graziani, better known as Ciccio Napoletano, is primarily known as a painter of battles, a genre very popular in the seventeenth century. His works are characterized by dynamic and crowded battle scenes, where the characters are delineated with a rapid and nervous stroke, enriched by effective light touches. His painting stands out for an expressiveness that combines the fury of the battle with a remarkable attention to detail and composition. However, Graziani was not limited to war scenes alone. He was also a skilled landscape painter, developing visions that often served as background for his battles, but which could also be works in themselves. His landscapes reflect an atmospheric sensitivity and a speed of execution that fully place him in the Baroque age, with rapid touches and a vigorous emphasis. He was influenced by the greatest masters of his time, in particular by Salvator Rosa and Jacques Courtois, known as the Borgognone, the latter perhaps his teacher. Francesco Graziani's style is recognizable for its curled and fractured writing, a way of painting that gives a sense of movement, excitement and liveliness to his compositions. His paintings, often small in size, show animated figures with vivid colors and darting brushstrokes, which foreshadow the compositional airiness typical of the eighteenth century. This synthesis of rapid and vigorous touches, combined with an illustrative sensitivity, makes him a unique artist in the seventeenth-century panorama. The decorative character, the charm derived from the works of Borgognone and Salvator Rosa is, in the pictorial production of Graziani, tempered by an illustrative sensitivity that still finds an evident point of contact in the canvases of early naturalism. Nevertheless, the writing in its speed of execution and atmospheric sensitivity, in addition to suggesting their full belonging to the Baroque age, indicates a date of execution that is heading towards the eighteenth century. The general character of these four small paintings presents that synthesis of rapid touches and vigorous emphasis perfectly traceable to the production of Graziani's workshop, whose members compose war scenes with crowded movements where the characters are delineated with a rapid and nervous stroke, almost curled, invigorated by effective light touches.