Lot 79: Carlo Bononi (Ferrara 1569-1632)

A Personification of Perfect Work
oil on canvas
35 1/4 x 28 1/2 in. (89.5 x 72.4 cm.)

We are grateful to Dr. Erich Schleier for confirming the attribution on inspection of the original. Carlo Bononi is generally acknowledged as being one the last great painters of the Ferrarese school, who combined Ferrarese and Venetian traditions with the study of the art of Ludovico Carracci. In the present work Bononi has based his depiction of the Personification of Perfect Work, or Operatione Perfetta, on an edition (probably the 1618 edition) of Cesare Ripa's profoundly influential Iconologia, which likewise depicts the personification holding a mirror in one hand, balanced by a square and compass in the other, silhouetted against a low horizon. This, as the Iconologia notes, is emblematic of the balance between the intellect or brain, which like the mirror is just a reflection of reality; it is only through the use of Art, represented by the square and compass, that ideas are translated into reality.

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