Emilian school, 17th century, Evangelists

Emilian school, 17th century Evangelists (4) oval oil on copper, 9 x 11.5 cm Framed, 12.5 x 15 cm The four small copper ovals presented here depict the four evangelists Mark, Matthew, and John engrossed in writing the Gospels, while St. Luke is represented with a brush and palette, as he is considered the patron saint of artists, particularly painters. This is because he was the first to paint Marian representations that would later be imitated by the early schools of sacred art in the city of Rome. Furthermore, he is the only one to look upwards, as if seeking inspiration for the work he is painting. Other attributes that appear are the lion of St. Mark and the eagle of St. John, while St. Matthew is characterized by nothing more than the scriptures on which he is working. The gray and opaque background, the metallic colors of the draped robes in rigid folds sculpted by a deep chiaroscuro, and the same half-bust cut of the evangelists recall the series created by Guido Reni in the two years 1620-1621, now kept at BobJones University, in South Carolina. Although the poses and faces are not copied slavishly, the inspiration that the four ovals draw from Reni's lesson is evident, also considering the success that the painter had with contemporaries and towards the artists of the seventeenth century, many of whom studied and drew models from his works, among which the series of the four evangelists is considered one of the masterpieces of his maturity. Once the Emilian derivation of these figures has been identified, we can also frame the period with the first half, or slightly beyond, of the seventeenth century, that is, in the full Baroque period, as the contemporary frames and the oval shape also reveal, which was very widespread and used both in architecture and in the decorative arts during the seventeenth century. The light tones and the fluidity of the drafting that are found in Reni are here enhanced by the copper support, capable of giving more body and tone to the pictorial medium.