Genoese School, Circle of Domenico Piola (Genoa, 1627 – 1703)
Musical Putti
Oil on canvas, 67 × 96 cm
Gilded and carved frame, 17th century, 86 x 110 cm
The examined painting depicts a group of three nude putti in an intimate and harmonious context, typical of Genoese Baroque painting. The work is placed in the heart of the Genoese seventeenth century, a period of great splendor for the city, characterized by the affirmation of a refined and theatrical Baroque language. The putti, personification of childhood innocence and joy, are represented here with particular emphasis on soft and luminous forms, a detail that further allows us to trace the work to an artist from the circle of Domenico Piola (1627-1703), one of the most important figures of 17th-century Ligurian painting. A student of his brother-in-law Stefano Camogli and then influenced by Valerio Castello, Piola knew how to blend the Genoese decorative style with classicist and naturalist suggestions, matured thanks to his knowledge of Emilian (Correggio, Guido Reni) and Roman painting. Founder of the Casa Piola workshop, he was at the center of intense decorative activity in Genoese palaces and churches, coordinating numerous collaborators and contributing to the spread of the Baroque language in Liguria. Alongside Piola, in the Genoese area, artists such as Gregorio De Ferrari, Giovanni Battista Gaulli (il Baciccio) and Valerio Castello stand out, all engaged in the decoration of churches and noble residences. Compared to his contemporaries, Piola shows a sweeter and more decorative vein, preferring a luminous and soft register, with figures with rounded modeling and rich but balanced compositions.
Piola's painting, compared to that of De Ferrari, for example, is less dynamic and nervous, but more attentive to decorativism and visual pleasantness. This taste is reflected in the predilection for playful and allegorical subjects, such as putti, often also used as ornamental elements in quadratures and frescoed ceilings.
The central putto holds a musical cartouche, while another seems to read or accompany it, suggesting an allusion to celestial music, a symbol of universal harmony and divine beatitude. The atmospheric rendering, obtained through a calibrated use of light and shadow, gives the group an almost sculptural presence.
The putti, Renaissance heirs of the classic "cupids", assume a polyvalent symbolic function in the seventeenth century: they embody lightness, childish joy, but also the spiritual and paradisiacal dimension. In Baroque painting, they are frequently associated with music, a symbol of cosmic harmony and divine praise. The musical cartouche held by the central putto could suggest a reference to the harmony of the spheres or to the angelic celebration, themes dear to the Counter-Reformation tradition which saw sacred music as an instrument of spiritual elevation.
The use of music as a decorative theme fits fully into the Baroque poetics of sensory and emotional involvement, and in the Genoese context it also responds to the aristocratic taste for the refinement of decorative and musical arts.
📝All our works are accompanied by a thorough certificate of authenticity.
📦 Professional packaging and insured shipping to guarantee maximum safety in transport.
📲 For more information, please contact us +39 3335747733 – info@dequart.com
🔍Possibility of VIDEO CALLS and direct viewings by appointment in MILAN and OMEGNA (Vb).
🌐 More information and photographs: www.dequart.com