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

DESCRIPTION

"The Guardian Angel", etching 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 advances, accompanying a boy, holding him gently by the arm and guiding his steps. As the child entrusts himself with confident faith to the celestial figure, the angel raises the other hand to point to heaven, where the faces of some cherubs are lightly and evanescently outlined. In this composition, the artist strips the sacred subject of any austere hieraticity to place it in a deeply human and familial dimension. Replacing the rigid perfection associated with 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 autonomy 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 Seicento. Moving away from the era’s rigid formalism and academic hatchings, Cantarini shapes the figures through a fluid, nervous, and extraordinarily free stroke. His is a sparse and vibrant hatching, skillfully calibrated to let the whiteness 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 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 vital breath onto the metal matrix, that makes sheets like this one coveted masterworks, 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 and then arrived in Bologna in Guido Reni’s workshop. While assimilating the master’s classicism, he developed a completely autonomous poetics, replacing the cold perfection with a more intimate, domestic naturalism, infused with a tender melancholy that made his subjects deeply human.

The absolute peak of his art, however, lies in engraving, an area 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 line of extraordinary freedom. With a sparse and vibrant hatch, Cantarini could make light vibrate on the white sheet, restoring the immediacy and freshness of a freehand sketch with unmatched elegance and economy of means.

The brilliance 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 etched 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. Work intact in every part with fresh and legible stroke and impression.

Tracked and insured shipping with adequate packaging.