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Giovanni Battista Viola
Landscape with a Mythological Story of Diana and Actaeon 1610

1600

About the Item

Important late 16' early 17' century painting By Giovanni Battista Viola with finely carved gilt- wood frame. Landscape with a Mythological Story of Diana with Nymphs and Actaeon. Provenance from a very important Aristocratic Family Collection. The subjects were based on the ancient Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses. The story of Diana and Actaeon in Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells of a man who happened by chance upon a goddess bathing. The outraged goddess ensures that Actaeon can never tell what he has seen by changing him into a deer to be killed by his own hounds. While out hunting, Actaeon accidentally discovered the secret bathing place of Diana, goddess of the moon and hunt. Giovanni Battista Viola (June 16, 1576 – August 10, 1622) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque period in Rome Viola was born in Bologna and went to Rome in about 1600. He established himself as a specialist landscape painter, executing frescoes and easel paintings with small figures. He was closely associated with Francesco Albani (1578 - 1660) who married his daughter in 1613. He worked with Domenichino and Albani at Bassano di Sutri in 1610 and apparently collaborated in the execution of the frescoes by Domenichino in the Stanza di Apollo at the Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati. Viola was well respected for his landscape canvases, which were documented among the works in the collections of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, Giustiniani, Cardinal Mazarin, and the Pamphilj. Louis XIV of France collected at least landscapes, now in the Louvre. He was a teacher of Bartolommeo Lotto and Pietro Paolo Bonzi (il Gobbo dalle Frutta), and would have been influential for Claude Lorraine. The biography of Amorini recounts that Viola died mortified after offending the Cardinal Ludovisi.
  • Creator:
    Giovanni Battista Viola
  • Creation Year:
    1600
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 51.19 in (130 cm)Width: 59.06 in (150 cm)Depth: 3.94 in (10 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Rome, IT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU100414357251
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