(17th/18th century)
Artemisia mourning for Mausolos,
lower left monogrammed: G.A.E.,
oil on canvas, 80 x 106.5 cm, framed

Certificate:
Prof Giancarlo Sestieri, August 2013

The present painting is one of the most significant recent discoveries concerning the group of works that are sometimes characterised by three or four intertwined letters generally interpreted as forming the monogram “G.A.E.”. Initially, A. Busiri Vici attributed these pictures to Giovanni Ghisolfi with the possible collaboration of Salvator Rosa with regard to the execution of the figures. A few years later it became clear that these works do not correspond to either Ghisolfi’s or Rosa’s paintings, but the monogram remained as a mysterious identification even after the examination conducted by D. R. Marshall in his well-researched dissertation (Giovanni Ghisolfi or the ‘Monogrammist GAE’ at Stourhead, in “The Burlington Magazine”, no. 138, 1996).

Prof. Sestieri agrees with Marshall on the subject of the probable attribution to the Lombard area, and in his detailed study about the “Architectural Capriccio” (forthcoming) he suggests some hypotheses concerning the interpretation of this signature. Sestieri believes that the architectural depictions are the work of the young Ghisolfi, before his arrival in Rome in 1650. As Marshall has demonstrated, the works of the “GAE” group contain elements that are very similar to those in his works. At the same time he assumes that the “GAE” monogrammists’ figures were executed by Antonio Busca (1625-1686), a friend a colleague of Ghisolfi’s who worked at his side, and who accompanied him to Rome. He is a painter who was somewhat overlooked (cf. M. Bona Castelletti, Pittura lombarda del ‘600, Longanesi), whose collaboration, however, accounts for the Milanese influence, which Marshall rightly indicated. Both painters, who should have travelled to Rome together, had therefore probably worked together on their early works and signed their paintings with a monogram in which the initials of their names were connected with the letter “E” (Ital. “and”), which resulted in the monogram “GAE”.

We are grateful to Prof Giancarlo Sestieri for his assistance in the attribution and cataloguing of the present painting.