Francesco Albani Circle Italian Mythological Painting
This important oil painting on wood depicts a subject that is very rare in the iconography of ancient mythological paintings: the birth of Erittonio. Erichthonius who succeeded Amphictyon becoming the fourth mythological king of Athens and married the naiad Praxithea who made him the father of Pandion.
The extremely high quality of this very rare painting suggests that it was painted by an artist who frequented Francesco Albani's studio.
The period, the mythological subject, the harmony of the colours and, above all, the sublime quality of the flesh tones all point in this direction.
This artwork, never before on the market, comes from an important Italian private collection
Every item of our Gallery, upon request, is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Sabrina Egidi official Expert in Italian furniture for the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and for the Rome Civil Courts.
ERYTHTONIOS (᾿Ερυχϑόνιος, Erychthonios)
Born of Hephaestus' love for Athena, from the breast of Ghe, who was impregnated by the god; welcomed by Athena, who placed him in a basket together with one or two snakes, entrusting him to the care of Cecrops' three daughters.
Against the goddess's wishes, they opened the chest, from which emerged, according to different versions of the myth, either the child wrapped in snakes or a snake, which, in some versions, killed the girls, while in others, they threw themselves from the Acropolis in fear. Erittonio, in the form of a snake, is welcomed by Athena into her temple and curls up under the goddess's shield. Alongside this myth, of Ionian origin, are others due to the doubling of the figures of E. and Erechtheus
The scene of the birth appears in figurative tradition: in a Melian terracotta relief from the early 5th century, Ghe, half-emerging, holds out the baby Erittonio. to Athena, who welcomes him in the presence of Cecrops; the same scene appears on various painted vases, such as a red-figure kölix by the Painter of Kodros, from Tarquinia, in the Berlin Museums, dating from around 440 BC, where Hephaestus also appears alongside Cecrops.
A modest red-figure vase from Camiro, in the British Museum, depicts the moment when the fleeing Cecropids discover the cista, from which the infant Erittonio. emerges between two snakes, greeting Athena.
The moment when the chest was opened was depicted by Phidias on the xiii and xiv S metopes of the Parthenon, where Cecrops and Pandrosus appear in the first and Erisichthon and Aglaurus with the chest uncovered in the second.
A kölix in the style of the Brygos Painter in Frankfurt, on the other hand, depicts the large snake E. chasing the fleeing Cecropids towards their father's palace.
Luciano (De dom., 27) recalls a painting depicting the scene of the birth and the representation of the myth in pantomime on the theatre (De salt., 39).
Bibliography: Engelmann, in Roscher, cc. 1303-1308, s. v. Erichthonios; P. Jacobstahl, Die Melischen Reliefs, Berlin 1931, pp. 96-98, plate 75 a; W. Züchner, in Jahrbuch, LXV-LXVI, 1950-51, p. 200 ff., figs. 34-35; J. D. Beazley, Red-fig., p. 720; G. Becatti, Problemi fidiaci, Florence 1951, p. 22.
Questo
Francesco Albani (Bologna, August 17, 1578 – Bologna, October 4, 1660) was an Italian painter.
Albani was born in Bologna, Papal States, in 1578.
His father was a silk merchant who intended his son to go into his own trade. By the age of twelve, however, he had become an apprentice to the competent mannerist painter Denis Calvaert, in whose studio he met Guido Reni. He soon followed Reni to the so-called "Academy" run by Annibale, Agostino, and Ludovico Carracci.
This studio fostered the careers of many painters of the Bolognese school, including Domenichino, Massari, Viola, Lanfranco, Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi...
Category
Late 17th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings
