GIUSEPPE GAMBARINI Lot n° 96

(Bologna, 1680 - Casalecchio di Reno, 1725) Girl with a tambourine and Jupiter with the goat Amaltea Oil on canvas, 74.5X62 cm Unmistakably of the Emilian school, the canvas can be compared with the works of Giuseppe Gambarini, an artist who trained with Girolamo Negri, Lorenzo Pasinelli and Benedetto Gennari, and then took up the naturalism of Giuseppe Maria Crespi. From the few biographical data, critics have hypothesized his debut as a figurine painter for perspective fresco decorations, collaborating with the quadraturist Marcantonio Chiarini, with whom he is documented in Vienna in 1709. In these years Gambarini approached the tenuous classicism of Carlo Cignani but also embraced an Arcadian naturalistic taste that would lead him to an elegant genre painting, in which there was no lack of Roman influences learned between 1712 and 1713. This is the context in which he chose to deal with humble and lowly subjects, dealing with things of the vulgar, such as women weaving, but without hesitating to propose learned quotations. In our case, the mythological inspiration of Jupiter's childhood is evident, when, saved from the threat of his father Saturn, he was brought up by the Nymphs on Mount Ida with the honey and milk of the goat Amalthea. We thank Massimo Pulini for confirming the attribution. Reference bibliography: G. P. Zanotti, Storia dell'Accademia Clementina, I, Bologna 1739, pp. 387 ; 392 J. T. Spike, Giuseppe Maria Crespi and the emergence of genre painting in Italy, Fort Worth 1986, ad indicem