Simone Cantarini (1612-1648) - L'Angelo Custode

DESCRIPTION

"The Guardian Angel", etching on laid paper, 12.7x17 cm, circa 1639. On the back, notes in pencil and an unidentified ex libris.

The work depicts a scene of deep tenderness and intimacy: an angel advances, accompanying a boy, gently holding him by an arm and guiding his steps. While the child trusts the celestial figure, the angel raises the other hand to indicate the heavens, where the faces of cherubs are faintly and evanescently outlined. In this composition, the artist strips the sacred subject of any austere hieraticity to place it in a profoundly human and familial dimension. Replacing the cold perfection assimilated in Guido Reni’s workshop with a more intimate and domestic naturalism, Cantarini envelops his protagonists in that tender melancholy that constitutes the true stylistic hallmark and autonomous aspect of his poetics.

From a technical and compositional standpoint, the plate confirms the stature of the “Pesarese” as one of the greatest and most innovative etchers of the European 17th century. Moving away from the rigid formalism and academic hatching of the era, Cantarini shapes the figures through a fluid, nervous mark of extraordinary freedom. His technique is a sparse and vibrant hatching, deftly calibrated to let the white of the paper breathe and to make it glow with autonomous light. This method allows the engraving to preserve the immediacy and freshness typical of a freehand sketch, achieving a visual synthesis of elegance and economy of means that are unmatched. It is precisely this creative genius, capable of conveying a vital breath on the metal matrix, that makes sheets like this one highly sought-after masterworks, jealously preserved within exclusive private collections and in the print cabinets of the world’s most prestigious institutions, from the Metropolitan and the British Museum to the Louvre and the Uffizi.

ARTIST

Simone Cantarini, known as the “Pesarese” (1612-1648), trained in the Marche region before arriving in Bologna in Guido Reni’s workshop. While absorbing the master’s classicism, he developed a wholly autonomous poetics, replacing the cold perfection with a more intimate, domestic, and tender melancholy that made his subjects deeply human.

The absolute pinnacle of his art lies, however, in engraving, the discipline in which he established himself as one of the greatest and most innovative etchers of the European 17th century. His graphic technique abandoned the rigid formalism of the time to embrace a fluid, nervous mark of extraordinary freedom. With a sparse and vibrant hatch, Cantarini could make light resonate on the white sheet, restoring the immediacy and freshness of a freehand sketch with an unmatched elegance and economy of means.

The genius of his plates and paintings today makes him a protagonist in the world's most prestigious art collections. His works and his exceedingly rare engraved sheets are housed in institutions such as the Louvre, the Prado, the Metropolitan, the Uffizi, the Albertina in Vienna, and the British Museum, in addition to being jealously guarded within the most exclusive international private collections.

CONDITION REPORT

Good overall condition. Work intact in every part with fresh and legible stroke and impression.

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