Marcantonio Franceschini Bologna 1648 - 1729

Marchesi Agucchi, Bologna, Italy, thence by descent;
Conti Bosdari, Ancona, Italy, thence by descent;
Private collection, Argentina, from whom purchased by Robilant + Voena.

Dwight C. Miller (see Literature) describes these two pictures as "tra le più geniali e poetiche opere di soggetto idillico-pastorale nella pittura italiana di questo periodo" [among the greatest and most poetic pastoral pictures in Italian painting of this period]. Indeed, although he is perhaps best known for his religious and mythological compositions, Franceschini took immense delight in painting pastoral subjects with no literary or biblical source, to which he sometimes referred as Pastorale Capricciosa in his correspondence.  It has been suggested that these pictures were intended for a specific location, probably in a palatial room, because of their distinctively vertical format.  Miller also suggests that Franceschini's brother in law, Luigi Quaini, was responsible, at least in part, for the landscape.  The two artists are known to have collaborated on several projects, such as the large scale mythological cycles in the Gartenpalais at Rossau, near Vienna for the Liechtenstein Prince, Johann Adam Andreas, between the years 1691 and 1709. 

In these two pictures, ideal landscapes serve as backgrounds for paragons of peace and happiness, in the form of young women, children, animals and the gifts bestowed on them by Mother Nature.  The arcadian ideal is brought to life in these images imbued with delicacy and poetry, which are among Marcantonio Franceschini's strongest qualities, and the reason why he was so successful in this type of composition.