CIRCLE OF GIOVANNI STANCHI | The Four Seasons: Four anthropomorphic figures

Marques de Salamanca, Spain.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. Each of these works has been recently restored by the same restorer. The restorations are well applied. There is a fair amount of restoration in each picture dealing with abrasion, isolated losses, and weakness in the darker colors. In the composition with the upraised arm holding the grapes there are 6 horizontal lines of loss that would seem to correspond to rolling or folding of the canvas at some point. The restoration in this set looks well to the naked eye and the paintings can be hung as they are.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

These paintings are versions of the compositions which Giovanni Stanchi popularized in 17th-century Rome, ultimately indebted to the anthropomorphic examples of Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1530-93) produced for the courts in Vienna and Prague, and directly related to the works of Caravaggio's Roman contemporary, Francesco Zucchi (1562-1622). Zucchi's Four Seasons, last recorded in a private collection,¹ are thought to be the direct prototypes for the series attributed to Stanchi that are published by Bocchi,² the set sold at Sotheby's, London, 6 December 2017, lot 23 (for £465,000), and the present canvases. Stanchi's versions are characterised by rich coloring and the airy, cloud-streaked skies against which the figures are set, that of Autumn animated in particular through his raised arm, the grapes he feeds himself an extension of the vine leaves defining his silhouette.

1 See L. Salerno, La natura morta italiana, Rome 1984, p. 54, reproduced p. 55, figs 14.3–6.
2 See G. and U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a roma, artisti italiana 1630–1750, Viadana 2005, reproduced pp. 273-76, reproduced in colour p. 274, figs FS.31–FS.34.