Circle of Pier Francesco Cittadini

Circle of PIERFRANCESCO CITTADINI ( Italy, 1616-1681).
"Portrait of a lady".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 62.5 x 52 cm; 77 x 67 cm (frame).
For its formal characteristics and certain stylistic aspects, such as the face, the position of the young woman or the attention to the details of the clothing, we can relate this work to the circle of Pier Francesco Cittadini, prolific Italian painter of the Baroque period. The artist of the present work gives us a female portrait, starring a lady. The young woman wears an elegant dress, adorned with rich embroidery. Delicate jewels complete her attire, as well as a fine hairstyle adorned with flowers. In a departure from his master, who placed his subjects in ostentatious interiors, the artist of our work places her in a neutral background that emphasizes her corporeality.
Cittadini was born in Milan, although he developed his career mainly in Bologna. He began his training as a pupil of Daniele Crespi, but after his death in 1630 he moved to Bologna. He arrived there when he was less than twenty years old, and continued his training under the guidance of Guido Reni. This master deeply influenced Cittadini especially in his early works, as evidenced by "Martyrdom of the Protomartyr" (1637), "The Flagellation" and "The Crowning of Thorns", paintings made for the Santo Stefano in Bologna. After the death of Guido Reni, the painter undertook a long work of recovery of the Bolognese tradition, starting from the Carraccian taste. The work "The Fall of Saul", painted in 1645, is evidence of this approach. Between 1646 and 1650 he worked in Rome, where he frequented the circles of French and Flemish artists who practiced genre painting. At this time his art evidenced a more naturalistic key, and he began to focus on landscapes and still lifes. It will be now when he manages to obtain commissions from Louis XIV of France, thanks mainly to the success achieved with his still lifes and landscapes. Later, between 1650 and 1652, he participated in the decoration of the Villa Estense in Sassuolo. He was also an appreciated portraitist, attentive in his observation and delicate in his chromatic intonation, as evidenced by "Gentleman with cuirass and red scarf" (Fondazione Cariplo) and "Double portrait (Antonio and Agostino Azzurrini di Faenza)" (Pinacoteca Civica di Forli). Particularly significant, however, was his work as a still life painter, with works that combine his naturalistic inclination with a fine sensibility for decoration. In fact, within his production of still lifes we find Cittadini's most important work, a series of four paintings of the seasons, which reveal the influence of Domenichino and of Swanevelt's own Nordic atmosphere. His sons, Giovanni Battista and Carlo Cittadini, were also painters. He is currently represented in the aforementioned collections and also in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Trieste, among other important Italian and foreign museums.