17th Century Orpheus and Eurydice Mithological Painting Pietro Della Vecchia Oil

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17th Century Orpheus and Eurydice Mithological Painting Pietro Della Vecchia Oil

About the Item

Pietro Della Vecchia (Venice, 1603 - Vicenza, 8 September 1678) Orpheus and Eurydice Oil on canvas, 168 x 130 cm Frame 189.5 x 150 cm The work examined refers to the hand of Pietro della Vecchia (1603-1678). Pupil of Padovanino, man of letters and musician, he was a complex personality and attentive to the culture of his time. From Padovanino he drew interest in Venetian painting of the previous century, especially that of Titian and Giorgione. Known for the skill with which he reproduced the style of the Venetian masters of the sixteenth century, he is also known for his grotesque genre painting, as well as for his activity as a portraitist. The canvas in question derives from the famous engraving by Agostino Carracci, preserved at the Albertina in Vienna, and reprinted in the following years (Accademia dei Lincei), together with ten other mythological and biblical subjects, belonging to a group defined as the Lascivie by virtue of of the topics covered. Scholars have classified them as a corpus, despite the diversity of subject and format. It is not known if Augustine thought of all the prints as a series, but the common thread that unifies them is the underlying erotic in both biblical and mythological subjects. The story tells of the love between Orpheus and Eurydice, a married couple in love. Orpheus was a poet and cantor, son of Apollo, god of poetry. Orpheus's wife, Eurydice whom the singer loved with all of himself, is bitten by a snake and dies. Destroyed by pain, Orpheus, whose words and music could move even the rocks, decides to descend into Hades, where the dead reside, to meet the god of the underworld and convince him to let his beloved return to the kingdom of the living. Orpheus, after having found the entrance to Hades, begins the long descent. On the way he faces many difficulties and overcomes every danger with poetry and song. He manages to present himself in front of Hades and Persephone. Listening to the music of Orpheus, Hades sheds a tear as black as tar, a unique event in Greek mythology. Music moves even the dead, and, as a reward, Hades allows Eurydice to return to the realm of the living. But on one condition: that Eurydice follows Orpheus in her ascent and the hero never turns to look at her before reaching the light. Orpheus accepts and prepares for the way back. Just before reaching the surface and entering the light, however, he turns and looks back. Orpheus now sees Eurydice disappear and is desperate for her, because he knows that he will never see her again. He then decides that he no longer desires any woman after his loved one. Typical evidences of Della Vecchia's hand that suggest an attribution to the Venetian are the elongated figures and the eyes clearly highlighted in their roundness and psychological relevance. See some of his canvases as compelling terms of comparison, for example the Pandora in Ca'Rezzonico for the sense of nuance that is perceived as an aura around the hair of the two young people, as if to perceive the tactile sense of the softness of the hair, also found in the feminine Apollo of the Laziencki Palace in Warsaw; again, Christ crowned with thorns in the Barozzi Collection, which presents that nod of the two central fingers in the hand always tightly closed between them, which also returns in our canvas, as well as in the aforementioned Pandora and in the Four Ages of Man in the Petrucci collection in Rome.

Attributed to:
Pietro della Vecchia (Painter)
Dimensions:
Height: 74.81 in (190 cm)Width: 59.06 in (150 cm)Length: 74.81 in (190 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Canvas,Hand-Painted,Oiled,Painted
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
17th Century
Date of Manufacture:
17th Century
Condition:
Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Milan, IT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU5918225980312