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

DESCRIPTION

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

The work depicts a scene of deep tenderness and intimacy: an angel steps forward accompanying a child, holding his arm delicately and guiding his steps. While the boy trusts the celestial figure, the angel raises the other hand to indicate the sky, where the faces of some cherubs softly and evanescently emerge. In this composition, the artist strips the sacred subject of any austere hieraticity to place him 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 signature and autonomous core of his poetics.

From a technical and compositional point of view, the plate confirms the stature of the Pesarese as one of the greatest and most innovative copperplates of the European Seicento. Moving away from the rigid formalisms and academic hatching of the era, Cantarini shapes the figures through a fluid, nerve-ridden sign of extraordinary freedom. His technique is a sparse and vibrant hatch, expertly calibrated to let the white of the paper breathe and to make it vibrate with autonomous light. This method allows the engraving to preserve the immediacy and freshness characteristic of a freely drawn sketch, achieving a visual synthesis of elegance and economy of means that have no equal. It is precisely this creative genius, capable of imparting a living breath onto the metal matrix, that makes sheets like this absolute masterpieces, jealously guarded 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 an entirely autonomous poetics, replacing the cold perfection with a more intimate, domestic naturalism imbued with a tender melancholy that made his subjects deeply human.

The absolute peak of his art, however, lies in engraving, in which he established himself as one of the greatest and most innovative copperplate engravers of the European Seicento. His graphic technique abandoned the era’s rigid formalism to embrace a fluid, nervous line of extraordinary freedom. With a sparse and vibrant hatch, Cantarini was able to make the light vibrate on the white sheet, restoring the immediacy and freshness of a freehand sketch with unmatched elegance and economy of means.

The genius of his plates and paintings makes him today a protagonist of the world's most prestigious art collections. His works and his highly sought-after engraved sheets are safeguarded in institutions such as the Louvre, the Prado, the Metropolitan, the Uffizi, the Albertina in Vienna, and the British Museum, in addition to being zealously preserved within the most exclusive international private collections.

CONDITION REPORT

Good overall condition. Work intact in all parts with a fresh and clearly legible stroke and impression.

Tracked and insured shipping with appropriate packaging.