Lot 18: GIUSEPPE BARTOLOMEO CHIARI (attributed) Bathsheba at her Bath

GIUSEPPE BARTOLOMEO CHIARI (attributed)
Bathsheba at her Bath
Oil on canvas

This painting has the typical features of the later Roman school that drew its inspiration from Pietro da Cortona, combined with a revival of classicising stylistic notes ranging from Sacchi and Guido Reni to Annibale Carracci and Maratta.
The balanced, symmetrical construction of the figures and the way in which they interact to perfection with the architectural setting, dominated by two columns and, to the left, by a fountain with a putto riding a dolphin, combine to make this picture both a harmonious and, at the same time, a typically Roman work.
Such features suggest that the painting may very probably be by the hand of Giuseppe Chiari, a pupil of Maratta, in a youthful phase still redolent of the style of Pietro da Cortona; and if this is so, it can be dated to some time in the last twenty years of the 17th century. Potential comparisons may usefully be made with such known works by Chiari as Susanna and the Elders in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt in the Bob Jones University Museum and Gallery in Greenville (SC) and a splendid allegorical female figure under Entry 47965 in the Federico Zeri Photographic Library. The painting's state of conservation is flawless.
110 x 150 cm

110 x 150 cm

Oil on canvas