Lot 34: Francesco Conti (Florence 1681-1732)

An Allegory of Music
oil on canvas, unlined
78 3/4 x 57 1/8 in. (200 x 145 cm.)

Francesco Conti trained with the last great exponents of Roman classicism, Carlo Maratta and like his master, Conti seamlessly fused Venetian colore with central Italian disegno. His status as an artist was assured when he was invited by the Grand Duke of Tuscany to contribute a Self-portrait (Uffizi, Florence) to the prized Medici collection.

The present painting can be seen as a Florentine response to Giorgionesque fêtes champêtres. In it, a barefoot couple, accompanied by a pair of flying putti, enjoy the pleasures of a pastoral landscape. The richly-attired female figure, identifiable as a personification of virtue or love, sits prominently along the central axis and is bathed in raking light. Aided by a putto holding sheets of music, she plays a classical, sixteenth century lute, a possible reference to rural festivals by Giorgione or Titian (lutes in the seventeenth century were embellished with ten playing strings, as opposed to the six found in the present picture), while she gazes at her seated male companion. Returning her gaze, the scantly-clad suitor plays a recorder from his bag of musical instruments, which rests against the picture plane in the lower right foreground. As early as the fifteenth-century the goddess of love was associated with music, however, despite the presence of an accompanying putto, the female figure here, given the other elements of the present work, represents An Allegory of Music.

We are grateful to Professors Marco Ciampolini (written communication, 25 March 2001) and Mina Gregori (written communication, 24 November 2004) for independently confirming the attribution to Francesco Conti on the basis of a photograph.