Lot 183: Bernardino Cesari , Arpino 1571 - 1622 Rome A classical battle, probably depicting the defeat of Hannibal by Scipio Africanus Major ( circa 235-183 B.C.) oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 65.7 by 88.8 cm.; 25 7/8 by 34 7/8 in.

Bernardino Cesari was born in 1571 in the town of Arpino, three years after his precocious elder brother, Giuseppe Cesari, called Il Cavaliere del Arpino. He soon became Giuseppe's principal assistant in what was the leading studio in Rome at the end of the cinquecento. Giuseppe Cesari was already an established member of the Accademia di San Lucca in Rome in 1585, at the tender age of 17, but it was not until 1592 when Ippolitto Albobrandi was elevated to the Holy See as Pope Clement VIII (1536-1605), and when Giuseppe Cesari was made his principal painter, that the studio was to reach the height of its fame and production. The Cesari brothers were henceforward to dominate the papal commissions as well as those of the Pope's family and the fashionable elite in Rome. Indeed, the studio was to attract some of the most talented young artists in the city including, at one point, the young Caravaggio. Bernardino's style is reliant on that of his brother, although tighter and crisper than the more fluid style of his brother. The present battle scene, although of superior quality, should be compared to the "Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs" sold in these Rooms 8 July 1992, lot 189, which was also attributed to Bernardino Cesari.

We are grateful to Professor Herwarth Röttgen for suggesting the attribution to Bernardino Cesari on the basis of photographs.