XV - Works On Paper - Marty de Cambiaire (English)

given the task of evoking the flames rising from
the sacrificial pyre and emphasising the assassin’s
expression of force and anger. The composition
is inventive and extremely evocative; the figure
of Abel recalls models from the antique which
Gandolfi had studied at the beginning of his career,
and is also reminiscent of the foreground figure in
Poussin’s Plague of Azoth, a subject which Gandolfi
also interpreted in the altarpiece of the Duomo in
Foligno, San Feliciano freed Foligno from the Plague.
The representation of Cain and Abel was one of the
most popular subjects in life drawing classes at the
Academy; the poses were always taken from ancient
sculpture or from admired examples of more modern
artists: the Pinacoteca in Bologna has a drawing,
of great quality, of the same subject, by Ubaldo
Gandolfi 5 . A second version of this drawing is in
the Fondazione Cini in Venice 6 and it was copied
several times by pupils as is shown by the existence
of a third sheet, this time by an anonymous hand,
in a private Bolognese collection. Obviously the
masters executed these studies during life drawing
classes, making them as a teaching tool as they sat
with their students.
The superb quality and degree of finish of this
mature work may well show that Gaetano intended
this drawing as a work of art in its own right, perhaps
destined for a collector but it is also indicative of the
seriousness with which Gaetano took his role as a
master at the Academy and his wish to provide the
best models for his students.
Donatella Biagi Maino
Actual size detail