(Naples 1696–1782)
Allegory of Spring; and Allegory of Autumn,
oil on unlined canvas, each 238 x 132 cm, framed
a pair (2)

We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for confirming the attribution of the present painting after examining the paintings in the original (written communication).

The present paintings display the characteristics of De Mura’s style in his full maturity and should be dated, according to Spinosa, between 1752 and 1759. The typology of the figures, the bright and delicate colours and the general lightness of the scene are all consistent with the works of the Neapolitan artist at the mid-1750’s. At this time De Mura, abandoning the Baroque style of his early period under Solimena’s influence, became one of the major exponents of the Italian Rococo, and was sought by local and international patrons.

In the present pair, large but narrow in format and clearly designed to be set in a large room in the space between windows and doors, the figures occupy the whole composition, and are arranged in a rhythmic and harmonic way. As Professor Spinosa points out, the representation of the seasons by way of traditional elements, such as flower pots for Spring and basket of grapes and pears for the Autumn, along with the musical instruments in its popular form such as the tambourine and the mandola, was a successful subject in Neapolitan Settecento painting.

The figures in the present works can be compared to those in other paintings by De Mura, who often repeated motifs and figure types in different compositions: the seated putto in the Allegory of Spring is identical to the flautist in his Erminia amongst the shepherds, formerly with Carroll Gallery in Munich (see N. Spinosa, Pittura napoletana del Settecento, Naples 1986, vol. I, p. 167, no. 285, illustrated p. 363 fig. 343); the seated woman with a tambourine is similar to the one in the Tarantella formerly on the art market (see N. Spinosa, Ibidem, 1986, vol. I, p. 165 no. 275, reproduced p. 357, fig. 332). The present pair can be stylistically compared to the Allegory of Spring, signed and dated 1759, in the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio (Ibidem, p. 165, no. 276, ill. p. 357 fig. 353), thereby confirming the dating proposed by Spinosa.