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Giovanni Francesco Romanelli
17th century, Bottega of Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, The Idolatry of Solomon

XVII Century

$5,150.28
£3,816.64
€4,300
CA$7,031.11
A$7,821.82
CHF 4,100.30
MX$95,580.79
NOK 52,212.19
SEK 49,150.55
DKK 32,739.82
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About the Item

17th century, Roman School Workshop of Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, known as the Viterbese (Viterbo, c. 1610 -1662) Solomon's idolatry Oil on canvas, 73.5 x 59.5 cm The painting is not signed The biblical episode of Solomon worshipping idols is one of the saddest and most surprising passages of scripture, narrated in the First Book of Kings, chapter 11. Solomon, the king famous for his wisdom and for building the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem dedicated to God, falls into an apostasy that stains his reputation and leads to grave consequences for the kingdom of Israel. Solomon's problem began with his many foreign wives. Despite the fact that God's Law had forbidden the Israelites to marry women from pagan peoples lest their hearts stray from the Lord, Solomon took as many as seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and Hittite. These women, for the most part, came from cultures that worshiped deities other than the God of Israel. As he grew older, and under the influence of his wives, Solomon's heart began to deviate. They urged him to follow their deities, and so Solomon, who had shown deep devotion in his youth, ended up worshiping abominable idols. Among the deities Solomon began to worship were Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians; Milcom, the deity of the Ammonites; Chemos, the abomination of the Moabites; and Moloc, the idol to which human sacrifices were offered. To please his wives, Solomon not only tolerated idolatry, but went so far as to build "high places"-that is, pagan shrines-on a mountain opposite Jerusalem, dedicated to these foreign deities. In these places, his women offered incense and sacrifices to their gods, and Solomon himself participated in these practices, departing from the covenant he had made with the Lord. Solomon's apostasy was a grave affront to God, who had manifested himself to him twice, giving him specific orders not to follow other gods. Divine indignation was not long in coming. The Lord announced to Solomon that, because of his disobedience and departure from the covenant, he would take the kingdom from him. However, out of love for David, his father, and out of love for Jerusalem, God's chosen city, this punishment would not take place during Solomon's lifetime, but would be realized during the reign of his son, to whom only one tribe would be left. The episode of Solomon worshiping idols serves as a biblical warning about human vulnerability to temptation, even for those who have been endowed with great wisdom and divine blessings. It shows how pride, luxury and spiritual compromises can lead even the greatest to fall, and how personal choices have consequences that affect entire generations and the fate of a nation. The painting, with its agile and loose pictorial draftsmanship, pastel hues and fluid brushstrokes, presents several features that associate it with the production of the seventeenth-century Roman school, and, in particular with the work of members of the Cortonesque circle: in fact, the work analyzed here has several similarities, both thematically and in terms of the technical-executive dimension, with a painting by the Pistoiese artist active mainly in the Roman sphere, Lazzaro Baldi (Pistoia, c. 1624 - Rome, 1703), The Idolatry of Solomon, mentioned, among others, by Father Sebastiano Resta and currently part of the collections of the Spada Gallery (inv. 274). On a technical-executive level, our painting shows clear similarities with the pictorial production of another artist of Pietro da Cortona's circle, Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, known as the Viterbese or Raffaellino (Viterbo, c. 1610- Viterbo, 1662). Romanelli was one of the leading figures of seventeenth-century Rome, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona and a key figure in the transition between the more exuberant Baroque phase and a more classicist expression. His style, while rooted in the prolific tradition of the Roman Baroque, is distinguished by certain peculiarities that make it recognizable: the interpretation in terms of greater classicism of the doctrine of Pietro da Cortona, the characterization, in terms of particular grace and delicacy, of the female figures in the compositions, the marked legibility of the elected episodes, and a reference to French culture, linked to his stay in Paris. Giovanni Francesco Romanelli's style can thus be described as classicizing Baroque, characterized by elegance, grace, clear compositions, and a refined mastery of color. His works are a bridge between the exuberance of the early Roman Baroque and the more restrained and classicist tendencies that would influence the 18th century.
  • Creator:
    Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610 - 1662)
  • Creation Year:
    XVII Century
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 28.75 in (73 cm)Width: 23.23 in (59 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    73x59Price: $5,150
  • Medium:
    Canvas,Oil
  • Period:
    17th Century
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Milan, IT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2639216523642

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