XVII - Master Paintings - Jean Luc Baroni and Marty de Cambiaire
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are among the most striking in the Seicento art, like the<br />
one in the Aberconway Bodnant collection, executed<br />
on the back of the portrait of a young woman.<br />
Alongsi<strong>de</strong> his important public commissions, Ligozzi<br />
also produced small <strong>de</strong>votional paintings for private<br />
patrons. ‘Large painting was not the only art in which<br />
Ligozzi gained a prestigious reputation: but he also<br />
succee<strong>de</strong>d in painting small copper pictures of sacred<br />
stories <strong>and</strong> images…’ 1 . This striking <strong>de</strong>piction of the<br />
<strong>de</strong>ad Christ stretched on the shroud <strong>and</strong> lamented<br />
by a praying angel is certainly one of these ‘piccoli<br />
quadretti’ which Bastianelli praises further in the text<br />
for their ‘soft texture, the mellowness <strong>and</strong> <strong>de</strong>licacy of<br />
their complexion, the lovely <strong>and</strong> solemn distribution<br />
of draperies, <strong>and</strong> the accuracy <strong>and</strong> volume of the<br />
figures’. Like for most Ligozzi’s works, there is a<br />
preparatory drawing of the same composition for the<br />
present picture (Fig. 1). The drawing is in the Kunsthalle<br />
in Hamburg, dated 1595. It is finely heightened with<br />
gold <strong>and</strong> may have been conceived as a mo<strong>de</strong>llo<br />
which Ligozzi would have then presented to his<br />
patron or as a ricordo for another collector. The refined<br />
execution of such drawings ma<strong>de</strong> in preparation for<br />
small <strong>de</strong>votional works <strong>de</strong>monstrates the extremely<br />
sophisticated taste of the patrons but also of the artist.<br />
This composition was engraved in Amsterdam by the<br />
Dutch painter <strong>and</strong> engraver Jan Harmensz Muller<br />
un<strong>de</strong>r unknown circumstances. 2 There are several<br />
copies of the print, which proves that the image was<br />
successful. <strong>Luc</strong>illa Conigliello has dated the work late<br />
in the artist’s career, around the 1620s, along with a<br />
group of <strong>de</strong>votional paintings <strong>de</strong>picting the Passion<br />
Il est également connu pour ses représentations,<br />
peintes ou <strong>de</strong>ssinées, <strong>de</strong> Memento mori, parmi les<br />
plus frappantes du Seicento, à l’image <strong>de</strong> celui <strong>de</strong> la<br />
collection Aberconway <strong>de</strong> Bodnant, exécuté au dos<br />
du portrait d’une jeune femme.<br />
En marge <strong>de</strong> ces commissions publiques importantes,<br />
Ligozzi produisit également <strong>de</strong> petits tableaux <strong>de</strong><br />
dévotion <strong>de</strong>stinés à <strong>de</strong>s comm<strong>and</strong>itaires privés, comme<br />
en témoigne le biographe Luigi Bastianelli : « La<br />
peinture en gr<strong>and</strong> ne fut pas l’unique art dans lequel<br />
Ligozzi se gagna une prestigieuse réputation : mais il<br />
réussit encore valeureusement dans la peinture <strong>de</strong> petits<br />
tableaux sur cuivre d’histoire sacrée et d’images 1 . »<br />
Cette frappante représentation du Christ mort, étendu<br />
sur son linceul et veillé par un ange en prière est<br />
certainement l’une <strong>de</strong> ces « piccoli quadretti », dont<br />
Bastianelli loue ensuite « le moelleux, la souplesse<br />
et la délicatesse <strong>de</strong> carnation, la belle et solennelle<br />
distribution <strong>de</strong>s drapés, l’exactitu<strong>de</strong> et le volume <strong>de</strong>s<br />
figures ». Comme dans la plupart <strong>de</strong>s cas, il existe un<br />
<strong>de</strong>ssin <strong>de</strong> la même composition que ce petit tableau<br />
(fig. 1). Conservé à la Kunsthalle <strong>de</strong> Hambourg et daté<br />
<strong>de</strong> 1595, il est finement rehaussé d’or selon l’habitu<strong>de</strong><br />
<strong>de</strong> l’artiste et peut avoir été conçu comme un mo<strong>de</strong>llo<br />
pour présenter le projet au comm<strong>and</strong>itaire ou comme<br />
un ricordo pour un autre collectionneur. L’exécution<br />
<strong>de</strong> ces <strong>de</strong>ssins en rapport avec les petits tableaux<br />
<strong>de</strong> dévotion est d’un raffinement qui témoigne <strong>de</strong> la<br />
sophistication extrême du goût <strong>de</strong>s comm<strong>and</strong>itaires<br />
mais aussi <strong>de</strong> l’artiste.<br />
La composition a été gravée à Amsterdam par le<br />
Holl<strong>and</strong>ais Jan Harmensz Muller sans que l’on ne<br />
1. Jacopo Ligozzi, The Dead Christ Lamented by an Angel,<br />
Hamburg, Kunsthalle, Kupferstichkabinett.<br />
The present painting.<br />
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