Italian school; circa 1690. "Portrait of girls... Lot 95

Italian school; circa 1690. "Portrait of girls as Diana Huntress and nymph". Oil on canvas. Relined. It presents faults, repainting and restorations. Measurements: 127 x 180 cm. Landscape portrait in which the author introduces in a leafy landscape, the figure of two ladies placed in the flanks of the composition. The idyllic scene conceives the portrait of the young women from a perspective that is based on mythology, a trend that began to occur in the ladies of high society who sought to be immortalised with goddess-like attributes, but which did not become popular until the 18th and early 19th centuries. As for the attributes acquired by the young women, the presence of the dogs and especially the crescent moon that one of the protagonists wears in her hair recall the goddess Diana or Artemis, to whom properties linked to hunting and nature were attributed, but which from Hellenistic times became imbued with darker and more mysterious properties, as a creature linked to the moon and the night. In the case of the other protagonist, who is seated on the right-hand side of the scene, we see that she is holding a bow, from which she takes one of the dates. This gesture may be due to the fact that she is part of Diana's entourage and takes care of her attributes, but it may also allude to the nymph Callisto, and therefore the arrow alludes to Cupid. Aesthetically the work is close to the style of the painter Jan Fyt (Antwerp, 1611-1661), who was initiated in the art of painting under Hans van den Berch, whose pupil he was around 1621. However, his great master was Frans Snyders. He attained the rank of master of the Painters' Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp around 1629-1630, although he continued to work for Snyders for some time. In 1633-1634 he was in Paris, and later in Italy. He visited Naples, Florence and Genoa and some sources even suppose that he made a trip to Spain. He returned to his native city in 1641, where he joined the select group of the Romanists, an influential association exclusively for those who had known the city of Rome. Once again settled in Antwerp, he collaborated on numerous occasions with artists such as Erasmus Quellinus, Jan Peeters and Jan Brueghel. His style is based on the manner of Snyders and some of Fyt's works are confused with those of Snyders, although his paintings are notable for their characteristic general tonality, in contrast to his master's taste for local colour. Fyt's colouring is based on browns, greens and greys, perhaps influenced by his visits to Paris and Italy. The choice of subjects also distances him from Snyders, as Fyt prefers more concentrated compositions, with motifs always placed asymmetrically, within a hierarchy inwards and outwards from the main plane. The contrasts of light and shadow that run through the elements depicted help to give them greater plasticity and dynamism, as does the inclusion of vertical elements such as crossbows, rifles, stones and antique sculpture.