- 190
Carlo Cignani
Description
- Carlo Cignani
- the triumph of love
- oil on canvas
- 146 by 196 cm
Provenance
Literature
Breve Racconto della Vita di Carlo Cignani descritta dal Muto Accademico Concorde di Bologna ed Acceso di Bologna, A dí 14 agosto 1702, p. 244;
I. Zanelli, Vita del Gran Pittore Cavalier Conte Carlo Cignani dedicata al Signor Conte Cristoforo Tardini ministro del Serenissimo Signor Duca di Modena, 1722, p.13;
L. Pascoli, Vite de' Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti moderni, Rome 1730-36, p. 158;
G.B. Zanotti, Storia dell'Accademia Clementina di Bologna, Bologna 1739, vol. I, p. 142;
V. Fanti, Descrizzione completa di tutto ciò che ritrovasi nella galleria di pittura e scultura di Sua Altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao del S.R.I. Principe Regnante della casa di Lichtenstein, Vienna 1767, p. 81, no. 402;
J. Dallinger von Dalling, Description des Tableaux, et des Pièces de Sculpture, que renferme la Gallerie de son Altesse François Joseph Chef et Prince Regnant de la Maison de Liechtenstein, Vienna 1780, pp. 167-168, no. 571;
Sammlungskatalog, manuscript, 1805, no. 274;
G. F. Waagen, Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien, Vienna 1866, p. 263;
J. Falke, Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Vienna 1873, p. 43, no. 357;
J. Falke, Katalog der fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Vienna 1885, p. 4, no. 18;
A. Kronfeld, Führer durch die Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien, Vienna 1931, p. 6, no. 18;
S. Vitelli Buscaroli, Il pittore Carlo Cignani, Bologna 1953, pp.98, 125, 152;
R. Roli, Pittura Bolognese 1650-1800. Dal Cignani ai Gandolfi, Bologna 1977, p. 243, reproduced fig.108a;
B. Buscaroli Fabbri, Carlo Cignani. Affreschi, Dipinti, Disegni, 1991, p. 181, no. 59.
Catalogue Note
This painting is mentioned in a letter from the painter Marcantonio Franceschini in his capacity as agent for Prince Johann Adam of Liechtenstein, which is dated 16 January 1694. In this he writes that Cignani has offered the Prince two paintings: a Madonna and Child and 'l'altro un quadro assai grande, cioè de sei piedi, representante l'Amor festeggiante e per ambedue non si paga piú che 200 dopie' (the other a rather large picture, that is to say 6 piedi, depicting Cupid celebrating and for not more than 200 dopie for both'. The Prince replied the very same day agreeing to the contract and (apparently) a price of 260 dopie for the two paintings. The pictures themselves were only delivered to Vienna in February 1700. In 1767, in his catalogue of the Princely Picture collections Vincenzo Fanti describes this work: 'Cupido con una freccia inmano, ed il Pomo d'oro riportato nella famosa lite da Venere di lui Madre, che siede sopra di una piedistallo vicon a due altri Amorini (Cupid with an arrow in his hand and the golden apple brought back by his mother Venus after the famous dispute'). Originally the Liechtenstein collections contained no fewer than twelve works by Cignani, but this is the only one that remains.
Prince Johan Adam I (1657-1712) was perhaps the greatest of all the collectors of the Liechtenstein family. It was he who acquired in 1696, for example, the celebrated Decius Mus cycle by Rubens, which remains one of the crowning glories of the Liechtenstein collections. The Cignani here is typical of his bold taste, which eschewed cabinet pictures in favour of large scale figurative works by the finest contemporary painters, notably those of the Bolognese school. Such multi-figure compositions were something of a speciality of Cignani's, and by this date he had earned an international reputation as one of the finest Italian painters, numbering the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Elector Palatine among his other notable patrons.