Felice Giani

Prof. Dr. Adam Politzer (L.2037);
Sale, Munich, Karl and Faber, 18-19 October 1965, lot 458;
With Antiquariat Heinrich Vetter, Munich,
purchased by Herbert List (L.4063);
Stiftung Wolfgang Ratjen, Vaduz

Munich, Staatlische Graphische Sammlung, and elsewhere, Stiftung Ratjen, Italianische Zeichnungen des 16.-18. Jahrhunderts. Eine Ausstellung zum Andenken an Herbert List, 1977-1978, pp. 248-249, no. 115, reproduced

A. Ottani Cavina, in L'età neoclassica a Faenza 1780-1820, exhib.cat., Faenza Palazzo Milzetti, 1979, p. 49, under cat. no. 112;
Idem, Felice Giani (1758-1823) e la cultura di fine secolo, Milan 1999, vol. II, p. 827, under no. A1.497

 

Hinged at the top. Overall in very good condition and colors fresh . Some minor rubbing at the top right corner and slight abrasions also to the left corner.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This very finished and detailed watercolour must have been intended from the outset to be sold as a work of art in its own right.  Giani based his wonderfully evocative, romantic composition on the subject of the famous Canto V of Dante’s Inferno, which tells the story, based on fact, of the final moments of Francesca da Rimini and her brother-in-law, Paolo Malatesta.  In turn, the two lovers’ spirits recount to Dante and Virgil the tale of their tragic love, and their violent death.  In this watercolour Giani depicts the dreadful moment when Paolo’s brother, Gianciotto Malatesta, surprises the two lovers.  

In keeping with the fashionable Troubador style of his day, Giani has taken great pains to depict the architectural setting and the costumes in considerable, and historically convincing, detail.  Anna Ottani Cavina, who dates this drawing to 1805 (loc. cit., 1999), has noted that Giani visited Paris in 1803, and he may have been introduced to the circle of the Empress Josephine, herself a great admirer of the Troubador movement. 
Giani executed three other drawings based on the same episode from the Inferno, all somewhat different in composition.  The closest of these compositionally, also dated by Ottani Cavina to 1805, is a smaller pen and ink drawing, less finished than the present sheet and not worked up with coloured washes, which is one of a series of five drawings based on the Canto V, in the Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York.¹  A sketch in pen and ink, probably a first idea for this sequence of drawings, is in the Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Rome.²   Finally, another finished watercolour, very close in style and execution to the present sheet but slightly larger and with a different composition, is inserted in an album preserved in the Biblioteca Civica, Forli.³  

Giani seems to have been greatly fascinated by the works of Dante, and especially the Inferno.  In this, he was very much a man of his time, as the end of the eighteenth century saw a vast, romantic admiration for Dante sweep across Europe, his texts providing subject-matter and inspiration for a whole generation of artists. 

¹ Inv. no. 1901-39-33-3362; Ottani Cavina, op. cit., 1999, vol. II, p. 827, no. A1.497, reproduced p. 828, fig. 1177
²  Inv. no. FN 13256 (73)
³ Ottani Cavina, op. cit., 1999, vol. II,  p. 750, no. A.4.10, reproduced vol. I, p. 88, fig. 144