Pair of angels with floral festoon and cartouche with family motto 'Pulchriora latent'
Workshop of Carlo Maratta (Camerano, 1625 - Rome, 1713)
Dated on the parchment, on the right: 1697
oil on panel (94 x 84 cm - framed 105 x 95 cm)
The complete details of this work can be consulted directly from the following - LINK -
This magnificent composition, depicting two small, fluttering cupids intent on supporting a garland of flowers, can be traced, both for the stylistic characteristics and for the compositional taste, to a master active in the fervent Baroque Rome of the 17th century.
One of the two amorini is delightfully about to grab the bow of the garland with his head facing downwards, while with the other hand he exhibits a parchment which shows, in addition to the date of execution, the Latin expression "Pulchriora latent" ("The most beautiful things are hidden"), which could plausibly recall the motto of the commissioning family.
A second winged putto, perched on a cloud, assists the scene by clutching the other end of the garland, richly adorned with various types of flowers, enriching the composition with a still life passage of excellent quality.
The iconography that sees putti with flowers represented is frequent in the Baroque period, especially in the Roman area, congenial to the new bourgeois class, who wanted more illusionistic and frivolous images for their residences, and therefore aspired to a type of paintings of strong decorative value, depicting triumphs of putti, angels or cherubs, and of which our panel represents an emblematic example.
Going into the detail of the composition, its design invention, as well as the stupendous light and chromatic effects, lead us to link its authorship to the inventive flair of the workshop of Carlo Maratta (1625 - 1713). Note how the soft roundness of the playful putti, the brushstroke that defines the flowing hairstyles and their soft complexions, are characteristic elements of his art.
In particular, it is useful to remember the series of paintings commissioned in 1692 by the banker Francesco Montioni for his palace in Rome (Works of Palazzo Montioni, Rome: link), and which Maratta himself performed with the collaboration of his pupil Franz Werner von Tamm (1658-1724). Also in collaboration with Tamm, Carlo Maratta repeated these compositions for the Marquis Nicolò Maria Pallavicini.
This still life iconography immediately found an echo among Roman collectors, and was therefore replicated and varied on numerous occasions. Among these the 'Garland of flowers with cherubs' (Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1994, n. 115), finds correspondences with our painting:
A particularity that makes this work unique is that the panel is also painted on the back with two vertical ornaments with acanthus leaf motifs, which seem sculpted in 'trompe l'oeil' style. One could presume their original function as doors for a chamber organ.
Excellent state of conservation.
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