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19th Century Pompeian Scene Painting in Oil on Canvas by Gerolamo Graffigna

About the Item

Gerolamo Graffigna (Genoa, 1861 - Savona, 1932) Pompeian scene Oil on canvas, 80 x 117 cm Contemporary frame 134 x 99 cm Signed lower right "G.mo Graffigna, 1888" The work depicts a typical Pompeian scene, with the foreground occupied by the mother Cornelia who accompanies her two sons, Tiberio and Caio, dressed in white robes and bearing fresh flowers, as a tribute to the divinity they went to worship during the festivity. dedicated, perhaps the Floreali, in honor of the goddess Flora, an ancient Sabine divinity of the Quirinale, who was witnessed in various colored robes, in imitation of the flowers of the fields and gardens, of which the awakening of the whole of nature was celebrated. Alongside the ancient habit of crowning the head with garlands of flowers, mimes were introduced, small comic scenes in which women were also allowed to act: it is said that the spectators asked to undress on the stage. There were numerous temples dedicated to it, Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, was born around 190 BC from Scipio Africano, who definitively defeated Hannibal in the battle of Zama, 202 BC (Second Punic War) and from Emilia. In 175 BC Cornelia married Tiberio Sempronio Gracchus, to whom she bore twelve children. Widowed at the age of 35, she refused a very prestigious wedding with Ptolemy VIII, the future king of Egypt, in order not to fail in her duty as a mother; of the children, however, only Tiberio and Caio ("tribunes of the plebs") and his sister Sempronia, who married Scipione Emiliano (the one who successfully concluded the Third Punic War), reached adulthood. Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, is remembered in the anecdote told by Valerio Massimo. It is said that one day Cornelia received a visit from a rich Roman matron, who flaunted and praised the jewels she wore; Cornelia let her speak, then called her children and, turning to the matron, said proudly: "These are my jewels." The choice of such a subject, which ideally brings the viewer back to the classical world, is linked to the passion for antiquity widespread in Europe since the previous century, especially after the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the two cities that were buried by the eruption of the Vesuvius in 69 AD. The charm of the buried city had a great echo and strong reflections in the artistic production, both Italian and foreign, in particular English and French (Sir Lawrewnce Alma-Tadema, John William Waterhouse, Joseph Franque among others). If at first we focus on the moment of the eruption and on the drama of the end of Pompeii starting from the 1850s, on the impulse of the Neapolitan representatives of this pictorial genre (Domenio Morelli, Camillo Miola, Federico Maldarelli and their followers) a more anecdotal and sentimentalist trend is preferred, defined as “neo-Pompeian”. The representations are inserted in classical architectures such as the baths, the domus or the tabernaee. Often, we witness a production centered on “Pompeian women”, as in this case the re-enactment of one of the best known domina of the Roman world. The author of the painting is Gerolamo Graffigna, signed in the lower right corner. He trained in the workshop of Nicolò Barabino, active in Genoa and Pietra Ligure, and devoted himself mainly to paintings of genres, religious subjects and landscapes. He often worked as a fresco painter in churches of Ponente Ligure, including San Giacomo the Major in Tovo San Giacomo, San Giovanni Battista in Cervo, where he frescoes the vault of the chapel of the Immaculate Conception, and the church of San Marino di Tours in Toirano. , where he worked between 1890 and 1893, with the fresco of the facade and decorating the main nave and the presbytery, depicting the episodes of the miracles of the Bishop of Tours. From 1889 he exhibited regularly at the exhibitions of the Promotional Society of Fine Arts in Genoa, making his debut with this painting (those of the years 1890, 1891, 1892 and finally in 1906 followed one another); in 1892 he participated in the Italo-American Exposition in the IV Colombian Centenary and in the same year he also exhibited at the Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition of Modern Art of the Turin Fine Arts Promotion Society. The participation in the National Fine Arts Exhibition in Milan in 1906 is documented with the painting “Daughter of the generalo Oyama”.

Dimensions:
Height: 52.76 in (134 cm)Width: 38.98 in (99 cm)Depth: 7.09 in (18 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Canvas,Oiled
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1888
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Milan, IT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU5918226766702