Michele Danieli

The print representing St. Michael the Archangel by Hieronymus Wierix,
published in 1584, was widely successful in Spain and in the Colonies. In
Italy, it inspired painters such as Francesco da Castello and Hans Rottenhammer,
as well as a number of lower pro*le artists, who adopted the same
model for altarpieces in some churches of Emilia Romagna and Tuscany.
Starting from a few case studies, the article shows how Flemish graphics
in)uenced Italian art during the second half of the 16th century, providing
artists with a large number of ready-made solutions, and changing the role
of “invention” within the artistic process.

The two Ercole and the reasons behind an exhibition · The author reflects on how the critical tradition, the material circumstances and the loss of many works of great importance have influenced the current perception of the figure of Ercole de’ Roberti, and his role in the Ferrarese and Italian Renaissance. His position as court painter, from 1486, leads him to a personal friendship with Duke Ercole I and his heir Alfonso. The relationship between artist and patron produces a celebrated cycle of frescoes in the Estense palace of Belriguardo, projected by the two Ercole in 1493.

Diversi dipinti di artisti bolognesi raggiunsero Vienna nel corso del XVIII: se molti di essi non fossero
andati dispersi, la presenza dell’arte emiliana a nord delle Alpi sarebbe oggi ancora più evidente.
Anche nella raccolta di pittura di Eugenio di Savoia la scuola bolognese occupava un ruolo preminente, e
per le sue acquisizioni il principe ricorreva a diversi agenti, o accoglieva proposte spontanee di antiquari e
intermediari.
Il presente intervento vuole prendere in considerazione quattro dipinti che si trovavano nella biblioteca
al piano superiore del palazzo del Belvedere. Nella loro sede originale, sono riprodotti nelle incisioni
di Salomon Kleiner (1731-1740), e oggi tre di essi sono custoditi al Kunsthistorisches Museum di Vienna
(mentre il quarto è perduto).
La loro appartenenza all’ambiente emiliano è già stata sottolineata da Gudrun Swoboda in un intervento
del 2013; grazie ad alcune testimonianze coeve e inedite, siamo ora in possesso di informazioni più
dettagliate e possiamo precisarne gli autori, i soggetti, e anche i nomi degli intermediari che condussero la
trattativa, allargando la platea di attori che, più o meno abitualmente, intrattenevano rapporti tra artisti e
committenti di alto rango.

The author discusses four unpublished or little known paintings in the Galleria Estense in Modena, attributable to Bartolomeo Passerotti and to his son Tiburzio. The first, a Portrait of a man, is still referred to an anonymous Lombard artist, but has all the typical stylistic characteristics of Bartolomeo, a famous specialist in the genre of the portrait. The second, a Magdalene, opens to the hypothesis of Parmigianino’s influence during the first period of the Bartolomeo's career, which is still unclear.
The third painting, representing Judith, has been extensively altered in its shape, and attributed to various painters, from Dosso Dossi to Giovanni Battista Del Moro, but belongs to Tiburzio Passerotti, and it can be dated shortly after his Venetian sojourn. The last painting, a Holy Family, belongs to the late phase of Tiburzio himself, in the first decade of the 17th century.

This essay seeks to set the early work of Bartolomeo Cesi in its correct context within the late Mannerist period in Bologna. His early frescoes in the church of Santo Stefano (1574) echo the style of Prospero Fontana and Orazio Samacchini, in whose workshop Cesi may have spent some years. In the decoration of San Pietro (c. 1580), Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti sought to dictate how art should be in line with Church doctrine. Cesi took part in the project, but his fresco is lost, and an early copy of it is published here, enabling us to consider the whole cycle anew. Alongside Camillo Procaccini, Cesi frescoed the crypt of the same church in 1584, and the appearance of a lost fresco is restored to us by a new preparatory drawing. In his finest phase, between 1585 and 1590, the artist succeeded in reconciling Mannerist tradition and the burgeoning naturalism of the Carracci.

Some examples taken from the paintings executed at Bologna from the end of the sixteenth
century to the end of the seventeenth illustrate the different meanings that can be attributed to
the bed in different narrative contexts. The bed can become a major theatrical scene on which
Orazio Samacchini rewrites a famous episode from the Aeneid, giving special emphasis to its
sensitive and intimate character. The female figures in the paintings of Denis Calvaert live tragic
adventures, but with varying outcomes. The moral rectitude of Lucretia or the recklessness of
Semele impose appropriate settings and for each one, the artist choses the bed that is most
suitable. The bed that Lorenzo Sabatini includes in his painting has purely symbolic significance
which the painter uses in order to enrich his allegorical representation. The absence of a court
and a centre of private power at Bologna during the early modern period means that it was not a
centre for the production of furniture for a sovereign’s residence. So, the paradigm of luxury
furniture is to be looked for in the mannerist painting of Florence or Rome or in Flemish
engravings, articles that were more accessible to artists than the real royal objects. This is clearly
demonstrated in a painting by Lavinia Fontana, which is a proper ‘portrait’ of a bed. The
spectacle it offers of real affluence distinguishes this painting from the others examined here.

The article provides new attributions for two paintings of the Galleria Estense of Modena. They both represent Christ carrying the Cross: the first one is by Francesco Bissolo, who re-elaborates a Giorgione model with a calmer attitude, in the manner of Giovanni Bellini of which he was a follower. Nicolò Frangipane painted the second one: another identical version, dated 1574, is at the Carmen Thyssen Museum in Malaga. The
author finally clarifies the provenance of an Ecce Homo by Frangipane from the famous Ercolani collection in Bologna.

Galgano Perpignani fu un pittore di incostante talento, attivo tra Siena e Bologna. Per tutta la vita coltivò il desiderio di essere ammesso tra i quaranta membri effettivi dell'Accademia Clementina, costituita a Bologna nel 1710. Il suo impegno fu particolarmente ostinato, e si scontrò con una ostinazione uguale e contraria da parte dell'Accademia. Lo svolgimento di questo contrasto pluridecennale costrinse l'istituzione a riflettere sulle proprie finalità, sul senso delle regole che si era auto-imposta e sulla loro flessibilità, e infine a mettere in atto una sorda ma puntigliosa strategia di esclusione.

Le catalogue Heures italiennes a démontré l’actualité et l’importance de la méthode du connoisseurship. La contribution se concentre sur quelques peintures émiliennes du xvie siècle conservées dans la région des Hauts-de-France. La Présentation au temple de Lavinia Fontana (Compiègne, musée Antoine Vivenel) est peut-être celle qui était dans la sacristie de Santi Naborre e Felice à Bologne, et on attribue à la même peintre une Sainte Famille au musée du Louvre.
Le Mariage mystique de sainte Catherine classée comme une copie d’après Biagio Pupini (La Fère, musée Jeanne d’Aboville) peut être considérée comme une oeuvre autographe. Un autre Mariage mystique de sainte Catherine (Laon, musée d’Art et d’Archéologie) constitue un nouveau point de référence pour la reconstitution de la jeunesse de Lorenzo Sabatini.
On attribue enfin un troisième tableau de même sujet (La Fère, musée Jeanne d’Aboville) à Giovan Battista Ramenghi.

Il catalogo Heures italiennes ha dimostrato l’attualità e l’importanza del metodo della connoisseurship. L’intervento si occupa di alcuni dipinti emiliani del xvi secolo presenti in mostra e nella regione degli Huates-de-France. La Presentazione al tempio di Lavinia Fontana (Compiègne, musée Antoine Vivenel) è forse quella un tempo nella sacrestia dei Santi Naborre e Felice a Bologna, e alla stessa pittrice si attribuisce una Sacra Famiglia al Louvre. Il Matrimonio mistico di santa Caterina classificato come copia da Biagio Pupini (La Fère, musée Jeanne d’Aboville) può essere un’opera autografa. Un altro Matrimonio mistico di santa Caterina (Laon, musée d’Art et d’Archéologie) rappresenta un nuovo punto di riferimento per la ricostruzione della fase giovanile di Lorenzo Sabatini. Un terzo quadro con lo stesso soggetto (La Fère, musée Jeanne d’Aboville) può infine essere ricondotto a Giovan Battista Ramenghi.

Abstract: the article aims to assign to Camillo Procaccini of a drawing in the British Museum, previously unattributed. The sheet is the first thought per the Adoration of the shepherds dated 1584, formerly in the church of San Francesco in Bologna, and now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale. At that time Procaccini was only twentythree years old and he was working, alongside with Bartolomeo Cesi, for the bishop of Bologna. The style of the drawing, slightly more calm than usual, must probably be explained by theclose relationship with the colleague.

This article aims to clarify the provenance of two Bolognese paintings today preserved in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin: ‘Geometria’ (which
perhaps represents the ‘Perfect Marriage Union’) by Lorenzo Sabatini and ‘Cleopatra’ of Guido Reni’s workshop. They were part of the collection of Prince Eugene of Savoy, and were both exhibited in the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna. Thanks to the unpublished autobiography of the painter Giuseppe Carlo Pedretti (1766), we now know that the paintings were sold to Eugene by the merchant Antonio Cavazza, with an attribution to Guido Reni himself and to Pellegrino Tibaldi.

Although a number of Flemish artists settled at the court of Rudolf II Habsburg, in Prague, Denys Calvaert was the only one regularly based in Bologna. As of the beginning of the seventeenth century, Calvaert begins to paint erotic themes, absent in his previous production.
In this study, the author presents certain new paintings with large female nudes and considers if Calvaert might have been inspired by the works of artists such as Bartholomeus Spranger and Joseph Heintz. It is not completely clear how Calvaert was familiar with the paintings of the Rudolfine school: perhaps through the presence in Bologna of certain foreign collectors (such as Paulus Praun, a merchant from Nurnberg), or through his relationship with certain engravers such as Aegidius Sadeler, Pieter de Jode and Jacob Matham. The stylistic links between Calvaert
and the school of Prague are perfectly illustrated by the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine presented here. Although formerly attributed to Calvaert himself, it is actually by Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn. A comparison will be made with a painting in the National Museum of Warsaw. A beautiful, small unpublished painting representing Mars, Venus and Cupid is also attributed here to Ravesteyn.

The third section addresses the artistic decoration of the palazotto, both interior and exterior, its iconographic
programme, representative role, and ties with a main residence. Particular attention is given to cases where the
decorative programme was conceived as an ensemble. This session examined the ways in which a satellite’s
decorative programme was distinct from that of the main residence, and to what extent it related to the particular
function of the palazotto. Michele Danieli addressed these issues in a paper concerning the Farnese court in
Parma. The decoration of the chateau Troja in Prague was presented twice, first in a paper by Martin Mádl and
again during the excursion day in Prague. Additionally, Jakubec’s introductory paper closely examined the rich
stucco and painted decoration of another Czech example, villa Kratochvíle.

In 1944, a bomb destroyed the church of Santa Maria del Borgo in Bologna. Almost all the painting were lost, including an altapiece by Ercole Procaccini. An old photo, in the University Photolibrary, demonstrate that the upper part of the painting survived, and now has been found in the Pinacoteca Nazionale.

Giuseppe Carlo Pedretti (1697-1778) was a painter deeply attached to
the institution of the Accademia Clementina and to the city of Bologna,
where he was born and lived most of his life. Between 1729 and 1732
he was in the Polish city of Leopoli (now Lviv, Ukraine) in the Rzewuski
family service, while between 1724 and 1725 he travelled between
Viadana, Sabbioneta and Mantua. The hand over of the keys in Saint
Peter in Viadana is the most important work of this period, spent in
southern Lombardy.
The article traces the first decade of the artist’s career, highlighting the
building of his reputation and the achievement of a position in the Bologna
art market. During these years, Pedretti enjoyed the essential and
continued support from Marcantonio Franceschini, his teacher, who
brought him the most important work opportunities and also followed
his career until his death in 1729. The disappearance of the early
eighteenth century masters leaves great void in Bologna, a void their
pupils cannot fill.

Il contributo prende in considerazione l’attività del pittore anonimo noto come pseudo-Vitali, attivo a Bologna tra il XVII e il XVIII secolo.
L’autore rende note due grandi nature morte, che si collocano tra i testi più significativi dell’artista.
Lo pseudonimo tradizionale indica la vicinanza con i modi di Candido Vitali, ma l’attività del pittore è più precoce, e il suo orizzonte culturale è più vasto: dalla Parma di Felice Boselli alla Lombardia del Crivellone, con il quale è stato più volte confuso.
I nuovi dipinti, calati nel giusto contesto cronologico, ne rivelano il ruolo di tramite tra l’eredità barocca di Pier Francesco Cittadini e la stagione settecentesca.

In 1632 several paintings by Scarsellino, including four panels with Biblical scenes, formed part of the collection of Roberto Canonici in Ferrara. Three of them are now in the Pallavicini Gallery in Rome and the Musée des Augustins of Toulouse, while the last one, The Offering of Noah, is lost.
The present article presents two unpublished paintings in a private collection: Joseph Sold by his Brothers, a copy of one of the Pallavicini panels, and the other one is the missing scene with The Offering of Noah. Thus, the series is complete, at least iconographically. The author of the two paintings is not Scarsellino, but his pupil Camillo Ricci.
Scarsellino’s four Biblical scenes were inspired by some engravings published by the Sadeler family between 1580 and 1583. Those engravings were part of a large and ambitious project of Old Testament stories, interrupted and resumed several times. On this occasion, a group of twenty-five prints has been brought together: without considering the whole Sadeler project, it is impossible to understand the meaning of the figurative sources.
The reason why Scarsellino decided to copy the Sadeler prints is not entirely clear, as it seems there were little (if any) relationship between the Ferrarese painter and the Flemish engravers. The only evidence of a connection is a print that Raphael Sadeler executed after a painting by Scarsellino, now in the Borghese Gallery. This print is a key to the understanding of the brief collaboration of the artists: it is not dated, but is dedicated to Bonifacio Bevilacqua who became a cardinal in 1599, and a chronology around 1599 for both of the Borghese painting and the Canonici panels can be inferred.
Finally, there is the story of a misunderstanding concerning the Madonna della Pappa by the Sienese Francesco Vanni. A copy of this famous painting in the Galleria Nazionale in Parma, has for a long time been attributed to Scarsellino. The Parma canvas has generated a wrong tradition of attribution which is now difficult to be corrected.

Questo volume è dedicato al palazzo senatorio Vizzani Sanguinetti, che sorge nella nota via Santo Stefano di Bologna e fu voluto da una donna illuminata: Elisabetta Bianchini vedova di Camillo Vizzani con i fi gli: Camillo, Giasone e lo storico Pompeo. Fu eretto dopo la metà del Cinquecento e al suo interno si trovano, tra le altre, opere di Tommaso Laureti, Lorenzo Sabatini, Giulio Cesare Pietra, Orazio Samacchini.