Fortunato Duranti

Sale, Milan, Sotheby's, 12 January 2006, part of lot 111

Window mounted with Japan paper. There are a number of small nicks and tears around the edges of the sheet. There are some repaired tears in the lower right and upper left corners, repairs are visible verso. Overall the medium remains fresh and the image is powerful.
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Superbly eccentric, yet classically rooted, the present composition depicts the Flight into Egypt.  Duranti explored the theme of the Holy Family in many of his drawings, taking the recognisable biblical figures and placing them in his own fantastical settings.  This grand and lyrical drawing is one of Duranti's finest sheets. Large in scale, it brings the biblical narrative to new heights, combining classical elements with his own unique and extravagant style.

Little is known about this imaginative and unconventional artist. Of the known surviving works, his drawings are more numerous than his paintings and the largest collections of his works on paper are housed in the Biblioteca Comunale, Fermo and in the Cooper Union Museum, New York.  The key figures that are discussed in terms of his artistic output and influence are Raphael, Tommaso Minardi (1787-1871) and Felice Giani (1758-1853).  The styles and artistic theories of the aforementioned artists can all be detected in Duranti's work.

It is difficult to date Duranti's graphic work's, but the present sheet seems to fit with Alessandra Pino's description of the artist's central phase (circa 1830/35-1840) when his drawings are characterised by gigantic figures, and the use of brown and grey wash.¹

^1.  L. Dal Pozzo, Darknesss and Lights - The Art of Duranti, Milan 1977, p. 17