Lot 208: Niccolò Codazzi (Naples c. 1648-1693 Genoa)

A capriccio of classical ruins with herdsmen resting near the Temple of Minerva Medica; and A capriccio of a palace portico in the Doric order with huntsmen
oil on canvas
34 3/4 x 53 5/8 in. (88.2 x 136.2 cm.)
a pair (2)

We are grateful to Professor David Marshall for proposing the attribution on the basis of transparencies. He considers the paintings to be typical of Niccolò Codazzi, and not far from the artist's series of pictures in the Palazzo Ruspoli, Rome (D.R. Marshall, Viviano and Niccolò Codazzi and the Baroque Architectural Fantasy, Rome, 1993, pp. 403-6 and 415, nos. NC 62-4 and NC 74). The two capricci show architectural details that reappear frequently in other works by both Viviano and Niccolò Codazzi, such as the Doric portico, the Temple of Minerva Medica and the archway with a ruined circular opening (for examples, cfr. Marshall, op. cit., nos. NC14, NC32-3). Professor Marshall also notes that the figures in the first painting show analogies with Filippo Lauri.

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