Felice Cignani (Bologna 1658 - Forlì 1724)
The Miracle of Saint Francis of Paola
Oil on canvas (Cm. 165 x 111 - Framed 182 x 129 cm)
The work is accompanied by an expert report by Prof. Emilio Negro
The proposed painting (oil on canvas, cm. 166 x 114) is in good condition and illustrates Saint Francis of Paola miraculously healing a girl, brought before him by her parents, with the mother holding her sleeping little brother in her lap.
Originally from the Calabrian city from which he takes his name and lived between the 15th and 16th centuries, Francis was a member of the Franciscan order, venerated for his healing powers, whose motto was "Caritas", which we find here in the inscription visible on the shovel at the end of the staff.
He is an important religious figure who died whose fame became such that it crossed the borders of Italy to also reach France: by order of Pope Sixtus IV he went to France, to the bedside of King Louis XI, and although he could not heal the now sick sovereign, he helped him to repent, to repair not a few abuses, and to settle pending issues with the Holy See.
From a stylistic point of view, as pointed out by Professor Emilio Negro in his study, we are in the presence of an interesting work executed by an artist active in Emilia between the 17th and 18th centuries, in whose ways it is easy to recognize the knowledge of the pictorial corpus of Carlo Cignani, and therefore to be recognized in an artist in his workshop, in this case noting a reinterpretation of the pictorial texts of Guercino and Annibale Carracci.
By virtue of these elements, it is likely to recognize the hand of Felice Cignani (Bologna, 1658 - Forli, 1724), a painter of noble birth, as well as the son and pupil of Carlo. He in turn became an esteemed master, among the last epigones of the glorious paternal workshop within which, as is known, even the most demanding tasks were entrusted to the best disciples due to the numerous commissions. So that the students had the opportunity to collaborate in the best possible way by learning directly the secrets of the profession from the head of the workshop.
The detail of the two figures in the background, a mother with her son in her lap, is beautiful, which cannot but evoke the beautiful Madonnas with Child so dear to the Cignani workshop.
To confirm the attribution proposed here, it will be enough to compare our S. Francesco di Paola with other works by Felice Cignani executed during the years of his late maturity spent in Forlì, such as the S. Gertrude (Forlì, church of S. Mercuriale, https://catalogo.cultura.gov.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/0800033536 ); in this latter painting, as in ours, the warm and strongly contrasting luminosity typical of the Bolognese artist emerges. And again the altarpiece with San Tommaso d'Aquino (Pinacoteca Civica "Melozzo degli Ambrogi”, Forlì, https://bbcc.regione.emilia-romagna.it/pater/loadcard.do?id_card=57988&force=1 ) and the San Filippo Neri in adoration (https://bbcc.regione.emilia-romagna.it/pater/loadcard.do?id_card=58614 )
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The painting is sold completed with a pleasant frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.
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