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

DESCRIPTION

"The Guardian Angel", etching on laid paper, 12.7 x 17 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 proceeds, accompanying a boy, delicately holding his arm and guiding his steps. While the child trusting in the celestial figure, the angel raises the other hand to point to heaven, where the faces of a few cherubs are suggested in a light and ethereal way. In this composition, the artist strips the sacred subject of every 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 which constitutes the true stylistic signature and autonomous of his poetics.

From a technical and compositional viewpoint, the plate confirms the stature of the “Pesarese” as one of the greatest and most innovative etchers of the European Seicento. Departing from the rigid formalism and academic hatching of the era, Cantarini shapes the figures through a fluid, nervy mark of extraordinary freedom. His is a sparse and vibrant hatching, expertly calibrated to let the white of the paper breathe and to make it glow with autonomous light. This technique 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 have no equal. It is precisely this creative genius, capable of conveying a vital breath on a metal matrix, that makes sheets like this true masterpieces, jealously safeguarded 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 assimilating the master’s classicism, he developed a wholly autonomous poetics, replacing the cold perfection with a more intimate, domestic naturalism infused with tender melancholy, which made his subjects profoundly human.

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

The genius of his plates and his paintings makes him today a protagonist in the world's most prestigious art collections. His works and his highly sought-after 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 preserved within the most exclusive international private collections.

CONDITION REPORT

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

Tracked and insured shipping with appropriate packaging.