Domenico Gargiulo, called Micco Spadaro

Private collection, Naples, by 1994;

Art market, Naples;

Acquired by the present collector in 2006.

B. Daprà, in Domenico Gargiulo detto Micco Spadaro. Paesaggista e “cronista” napoletano, G. Sestieri and B. Daprà (eds), Milan and Rome 1994, p. 253, no. 116, reproduced in colour (as signed with initials lower right).

Datable to the artist's maturity, this delightful canvas is a rare and highly inventive work within the œuvre of Domenico Gargiulo, known as Micco Spadaro, showing the Neapolitan master engaging with a sophisticated allegorical subject far removed from the urban views and contemporary historical scenes for which he is best known.

Conceived as a classical frieze unfolding across two registers, the composition is animated in the foreground by a lively procession of putti engaged in amorous games, music-making, and theatrical pursuits. Blindfolded cupids attempt to strike a shield emblazoned with a heart, a playful allusion to the capricious and irrational power of love. Gargiulo infuses the scene with humour: several arrows miss their target entirely, while mischievous putti discreetly lift their blindfolds to improve their aim. The theatrical mask carried at the left introduces an allegory of the arts and betrays the artist’s familiarity with the classicising inventions of Nicolas Poussin’s celebrated Bacchanals of Putti,¹ themselves inspired by ancient sarcophagi.

In the cooler-toned background, a second procession advances in the opposite direction, escorting a goat-drawn chariot bearing a figure traditionally identified as Silenus. This evocative passage draws upon both ancient relief sculpture and the rich repertory of 16^th and 17^th century bacchanalian imagery. At right, a bustling group of elongated figures are gathered before a city gate recalling Naples’ Castel Nuovo.

¹ See for example the work in the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome; https://barberinicorsini.org/collezione/opera/?id=WE4950