Carlo Cignani (1628 - 1719)
Shepherdess asleep with two cupids

Shepherdess asleep with two cupids
Technique: oil painting on canvas
Dimensions: 44 x 36 cm

Exhibitions: "Masterpiece of European Art", Las Vegas, 1963.

The painting, relined, was exhibited in Las Vegas in 1963 at the exhibition on European masterpieces, as can be seen from the label on the back of the canvas.

The particular rendering of contrasts between lights and shadows bring out the magnificent incarnations of the characters and the cold colors, typical of the artist.

For the choice of composition, style and that of the subject, the composition could date back to the 60s of the seventeenth century , given the consonances with the work of the "Sheperd and Sheperdess" exhibited at the Hermitage and dated 1660.

The pyramidal arrangement proposed here often returns in the works of the Bolognese painter and the depiction of putti is quite similar too.

The work is embellished with a palmettes-motive frame (not coeval). Small drop of color on the top right.