(Padua 1614–1687 Venice)
Venus and two amorini,
oil on canvas, 87 x 104 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Nicolaas Beets (1878–1963), Amsterdam;
sold to Alois Miedl (co-owner of the Aryanised art dealer Kunsthandel J. Goudstikker, N.V., inv. no. 6041), Amsterdam, 30 September 1940;
acquired by Heinrich Hoffmann for the ‘Führermuseum Linz’ (Linz no. 2964), 1943;
Central Collecting Point Munich (Mü. no. 8870);
restituted to the Netherlands 1946;
sale, Frederik Muller & Cie, Amsterdam, 20 November 1951, lot 30 (as Italian School, 17th century);
where acquired by the parents of the present owner – private collection, The Netherlands

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

Pietro Liberi was one of the leading painters in seventeenth century Venice in terms of output, reputation and commissions. A native of Padua, in his youth Liberi led an adventurous life travelling around the Mediterranean, before settling in Venice. He was a versatile artist, producing altarpieces, history paintings, allegorical subjects and, above all, sensual and erotically charged compositions.

The present canvas, depicting Venus and two amorini, is a significant example of his mature work and is datable to the 1660s or early 1670s. The composition is stylistically reminiscent both of the Roman production of Pietro da Cortona, as well as the grand Venetian Cinquecento tradition, especially by Paolo Veronese. It stands out as an example of Vincenzo da Canal’s 1732 praise of the artist’s ‘donne ignude [...] allegre con le buone conciature, i puttini e il tutto insieme d’accordo [...]’.