ANTONIO TIBALDI Lot n° 1133

(Rome, 1635 - documented until 1675) Still life with playing cards, casket and riser with sweets Oil on canvas, 120X169 cm Antonio Tibaldi was a pupil of Francesco Noletti known as Il Maltese (1611-1654), from whom he derived his complex iconographic representations composed of elegant carpets, draperies, silverware, musical instruments and many other precious objects. The rediscovery of the artist is critically recent and is due to the discovery of a painting inscribed Il Tibaldi. Romano, on the back of a book and another painting signed Ant. Tibaldi (cf. Bocchi 2005). Beginning with the artist's name, surname and profession, investigations focused on parish archives, allowing the artist's registration to be traced in the 1675 States of Souls of Santa Maria del Popolo. His production exhibits the use of filling the pictorial space to the widest possible extent, placing heavy carpets and brocades on tables where armor, clocks, musical instruments, cushions, boxes, books, sugary sweets are distributed and often, as in our case, he closed the scenic space with heavy gilt-edged fabrics. Inventories of ancient Roman collections have made it possible to learn about his powerful patrons, such as the Barberini (Pope Urban VIII) and the Chigi (Pope Alexander VII). As for the canvases under consideration, it is assumed that they belonged to a member of the Knighthood of Malta given the Cross placed in the second canvas in the right foreground. Reference bibliography: G. and U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma. Italian Artists 1630-1750, Viadana 2005, pp. 473-490