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

DESCRIPTION

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

The work portrays a scene of deep tenderness and intimacy: an angel walks accompanied by a boy, gently taking him by the arm and guiding his steps. While the child trusts himself to the celestial figure, the angel raises the other hand to indicate heaven, where the faces of a few cherubs are faintly and evanescently outlined. In this composition, the artist strips the sacred subject of any austere hieraticness to place it in a profoundly human and familial dimension. Replacing the cold perfection absorbed 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 hallmark and autonomous essence 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 etchers of the European 17th century. Moving away from the rigid formalism and academic hatching of the era, Cantarini shapes the figures with a fluid, nervy sign of extraordinary freedom. His is a sparse and vibrant etching, skillfully 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 a remarkable economy of means. It is precisely this creative genius, capable of transmitting a vital breath onto the metal matrix, that makes sheets like this highly sought-after 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.

AUTHOR

Simone Cantarini, known as the “Pesarese” (1612-1648), trained in the Marche region before arriving in Bologna at 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 imbued with tender melancholy, which made his subjects profoundly human.

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

The genius of his plates and paintings makes him a protagonist today 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, as well as being jealously preserved within the most exclusive international private collections.

CONDITION REPORT

Good overall condition. Work intact in all parts with fresh and legible line and impression.

Tracked and insured shipping with adequate packing.