(Rome 1654–1727)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
oil on canvas, 150 x 123.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Giancarlo Sestieri for confirming the attribution after examination of the present painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

The present compostion of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt displays a measured balance and majestic classicism, whilst at the same time also displaying the influence of the rococo style in the details. The Madonna, around whom the composition pivots, appears standing, supporting the Child who is honoured with a basket of flowers offered by two angels on the right. These serve as a counterpoint to the presence on the left of Saint Joseph sitting on the ground. He has just stopped reading a book held with his left hand and balanced on his leg. The background shows a group of trees on the left side which is balanced on the right by a wide, open landscape, painted in the manner of van Bloemen, with a round tower on a hill in the distance.

Sestieri has suggested that this is a mature work by Chiari dating from the last two decades of his career, and he compares the present painting with the Return of Judith with the Head of Holofernes, signed and dated 1712 and the Allegory of the Rule of Clement XI (1700–1721), both at the Museo di Roma, the Adoration of the Magi in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, (signed and dated 1714); as well as with the Rest of the Holy Family on the Flight into Egypt at the Bob Jones University and Art Gallery of Greenville, and the various versions of Christ and the Samaritan at the Well (Buckeburg, Castle; Sarah Cammbell Blaffer Foundation; formerly Christie’s, New York, 6th March 1987, formerly in the Suida Manning Collection).

The latest versions of these are also similar to the subject by Carlo Maratti (private collection) which marks the close relationship Chiari had with his teacher, which became closer still in the eighteenth century when Maratti was working significantly less and making greater use of his immediate followers. Following his death in 1713, Chiari became his official heir, both in terms of the close similarity in manner in many of his eighteenth-century paintings, and for having already achieved a great success within Rome, establishing himself in the 1680s and 1690s with important works, including the commissions for the Barberini (two ceiling frescoes depicting the Chariot of the Sun and The Birth of Pindar in their palace) and for the Colonna (a ceiling with the Apotheosis of Marcantonio II Colonna).

Despite the fact that no monograph has as yet been written about this artist, his rich catalogue has nevertheless been illustrated in studies and specific texts (see B. Kerber, Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari, in: The Art Bullettin, I, 1968, p. 75-86; S. Rudolph, La Pittura del ‘700 a Roma, Longanesi ed., Milan 1983, fig. 159-170; G. Sestieri, Repertorio della Pittura Romana della fine del Seicento e del Settecento, Turin 1994, I, p. 51-54, II, fig. 260-278), E. Schleier, Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari. La Strage degli Innocenti, Quaderni del Barocco 3, Arti Grafiche Ariccia, 2009). Consulting these texts, it is possible to establish some clear general and analytical comparisons with the present painting.

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Giancarlo Sestieri for confirming the attribution after examination of the present painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

The present compostion of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt displays a measured balance and majestic classicism, whilst at the same time also displaying the influence of the rococo style in the details. The Madonna, around whom the composition pivots, appears standing, supporting the Child who is honoured with a basket of flowers offered by two angels on the right. These serve as a counterpoint to the presence on the left of Saint Joseph sitting on the ground. He has just stopped reading a book held with his left hand and balanced on his leg. The background shows a group of trees on the left side which is balanced on the right by a wide, open landscape, painted in the manner of van Bloemen, with a round tower on a hill in the distance.

Sestieri has suggested that this is a mature work by Chiari dating from the last two decades of his career, and he compares the present painting with the Return of Judith with the Head of Holofernes, signed and dated 1712 and the Allegory of the Rule of Clement XI (1700–1721), both at the Museo di Roma, the Adoration of the Magi in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, (signed and dated 1714); and also with the Rest of the Holy Family on the Flight into Egypt at the Bob Jones University and Art Gallery of Greenville, and the various versions of Christ and the Samaritan at the Well (Buckeburg, Castle; Sarah Cammbell Blaffer Foundation; formerly Christie’s, New York, 6th March 1987, formerly in the Suida Manning Collection).

The latest versions of these are also similar to the subject by Carlo Maratti (private collection) which marks the close relationship Chiari had with his teacher, which became closer still in the eighteenth century when Maratti was working significantly less and making greater use of his immediate followers. Following his death in 1713, Chiari became his official heir, both in terms of the close similarity in manner in many of his eighteenth-century paintings, and for having already achieved a great success within Rome, establishing himself in the 1680s and 1690s with important works, including the commissions for the Barberini (two ceiling frescoes depicting the Chariot of the Sun and The Birth of Pindar in their palace) and for the Colonna (a ceiling with the Apotheosis of Marcantonio II Colonna).

Despite the fact that no monograph has as yet been written about this artist, his rich catalogue has nevertheless been illustrated in studies and specific texts (see B. Kerber, Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari, in: The Art Bullettin, I, 1968, p. 75-86; S. Rudolph, La Pittura del ‘700 a Roma, Longanesi ed., Milan 1983, fig. 159-170; G. Sestieri, Repertorio della Pittura Romana della fine del Seicento e del Settecento, Turin 1994, I, p. 51-54, II, fig. 260-278), E. Schleier, Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari. La Strage degli Innocenti, Quaderni del Barocco 3, Arti Grafiche Ariccia, 2009). Consulting these texts, it is possible to establish some clear general and analytical comparisons with the present painting.