Description
Pietro da Cortona was an Italian painter, draughtsman and architect who is considered one of the three leading artists of the Roman Baroque, one of the most artistically productive periods in Rome’s history. He is to High Baroque painting what Bernini is to its sculpture. Da Cortona painted religious, mythological, landscape and portrait works. He set the standard for European Baroque fresco painting which endured throughout the 17th Century; among the best known are those he executed for the Barberini family and for the Pitti Palace in Florence. While his architecture was less influential, his designs for facades and stucco decorations were imaginative and original.
Inscription beneath the print reads: “A Sua Eccellenza il Sig.” “Conte Francesco Colloredo Consigliere Intimo Attuale di Stato e Ciamberlano di SMI e R Ap:” ed Ajo delle LLAARR gli Arci Duchi di Toscana.” [To His Excellency, Signor “Count Francesco Colloredo, Current Inmost Counselor of the State and Chamberlain of SMI and R Ap”: and the Ajo of the LLAARR, the Archduke of Tuscany.]
Condition: Generally very good with the usual light toning, soiling wear, soft creases, cockling. Few marginal short tears, neatly restored.
References:
“Pietro da Cortona.” The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Online at Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/01/0196/T019663.asp (28 March 2002).
