Sleeping Cupid in a landscape, a label on the back of the stretcher: “GG/F Niccolò Fava 1699”, oil on canvas, 93 x 143 cm, framed

Provenance:
1670, 18 January, commissioned by Count Alessandro Fava, Bologna from Lorenzo Pasinelli;
1699, 22 November, collection of Count Niccolò Fava, Bologna;
European private collection.

Documentation:
1670 Inventory, Fava Family Archive, Bologna (Descritione delle pitture che sono in casa di me Alessandro fava fatta li 9 di ottobre 1675 […]), c. 33
1699 Inventory, Fava Family Archive, Bologna (Inventario delle pitture e scolture toccate all’illustrissimo signor conte Nicolò Maria Valeriano Fava nella divisione con l’illustrissimo suo signor fratello, c. 5v: “Un Amorino, che dorme sopra d’un Letto, posa il capo sopra d’un gran cuscino, con alcune freccie per il letto Paese in distanza con due piccole figurine, che guardano indietro, del Sig.r Pasinelli, in tela da 3 con cornice dorata.” (as Pasinelli)

The present composition is an important addition to the oeuvre of Lorenzo Pasinelli. We are grateful to Dr. Emilio Negro for confirming the attribution, which is also supported by archival documentation.

An old label on the back of the stretcher of the present painting has allowed the possibility of identifying the present painting as the one cited in the seventeenth-Century inventories of the Fava family, one of the most important aristocratic families and patrons of the arts in Bologna at that time. The label bears the letters “G”, “G” and “F”, followed by the inscription “Niccolò Fava 1699” and corresponds to the inventory of the paintings and sculptures belonging to Niccolò Maria Valeriano Fava (1670–1736). The inventory was drawn up on 22 November 1699 on the occasion of the division of the family property. In the brief introduction to the description of the works preserved in the rooms of the Fava palace, it is stated that all the pictures and sculptures that belonged to Niccolò would be marked with his name “Nicolò Fava”, together with a double “G” and “F”, meaning Gio:Galeazzo Fava, (the name of his great uncle), and the year “1699”. The inventory was written by the painter Donato Creti, himself a pupil of Lorenzo Pasinelli, and describes, room by room, the paintings of the collection amongst which were works by some of the period’s most important Bolognese artists, including Simone Cantarini, Lorenzo Pasinelli, and Gian Gioseffo dal Sole. The palace itself was decorated with the celebrated frescoes by the Carracci. The present painting is recorded in the document as exhibited in the “room of the green bed” and is described as follows: “Un Amorino, che dorme sopra d’un Letto, posa il capo sopra d’un gran cuscino, con alcune freccie per il letto. Paese in distanza con due piccole figurine, che guardano indietro, del Sig.r Pasinelli, in tela da 3 con cornice dorata.”

Another important document in the family archives clarifies the exact chronology and the circumstances of the commission of the painting by Count Alessandro Fava. The work is mentioned in the “Description of the pictures located in the palace of Alessandro Fava”, dated 9 October 1675 and written by the count himself. Lorenzo Pasinelli appears to have been commissioned on the 9 January 1670, and the painting was completed and consigned by the artist on 18 January, only nine days later. The free and rapid execution evident in the present compostion is also underlined by Alessandro Fava, who describes the picture as a finished “Bozza”.

The work was a gift from Count Alessandro to his wife, Argia Ghislieri. The countess was expecting a child, and Alessandro states that he wished to give her an object “che facesse buona impressione nel suo intelletto”. Pasinelli executed the sleeping Cupid in a landscape, which is carefully described by the count in such a way that it perfectly coincides with the present painting. Furthermore, the iconography of the work, its location in the palace, and the circumstances of the commission perfectly coincide with the interpretation of the subject suggested by Emilio Negro.

The present painting shows Cupid, the god of love, sleeping in an elegant sort of bed lined with satin and partially covered by a curtain on the left side. Beside him are his two iconographic attributes: the golden arrow, which he uses to let love grow, and the second arrow, made of lead and identified by the well visible silver head, which has the power to end love. On the right side of the canvas the painting opens into an Arcadian landscape showing a boat gliding on the sea, a pyramide, a tree, some houses and two figures, a man and a woman. These details allow the scene to be identified as a representation of the famous pastoral drama by Giovan Battista Guarini, Il pastor fido, published in Venice in 1590: the two people in the background are the lovers Mirtillo and Amarilli, who are escaping with the missing bow and quiver, stolen from the sleeping Cupid. The poem, situated in Arcadia, was one of the most famous works in the 17th Century. It was published in numerous editions and inspired artists as well as various composers. The present painting was also inspired by this poem, which rejoices in honest and virtuous love. It is a celebration of married love, which is stable and secure and in contrast to the uncertainty of passion. The particular iconography of the painting indicates that it was supposed to decorate a private bed chamber, to remind two lovers that love is fragile and hasty.

This hitherto unknown, but well documented painting is an important addition to Pasinelli’s oeuvre, and it confirms the close relationship between the painter and the Fava family, especially with Count Alessandro. A number of artists in Pasinelli’s workshop were frequently at the Palace Fava, where they could study the famous frescoes by the Carracci, as well as Donato Creti; these artists included Giovan Gioseffo del Sole, Giuseppe Maria Mazza, Ercole Graziani and Pietro Ercole Fava, who was Alessandro Fava’s son and became a painter and a member of the Clementine Academy.

We are grateful to Dr. Emilio Negro for confirming the attribution to Lorenzo Pasinelli (written communication, 31 July 2012) and for his help in cataloguing of present lot.