(Molfetta 1703–1766 Naples)
Circe,
oil on canvas, 130 x 100 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada for endorsing the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

The present painting relates to a smaller canvas of the same subject by Corrado Giaquinto, conserved in the Pinacoteca Comunale Fortunato Duranti, Montefortino (inv. no. 23). The identification of the subject has been subject of an ongoing scholarly debate. The figure was thought to be Saint Agatha, as the wand was misinterpreted as a blade and therefore as an allusion to the saint’s martyrdom. The female figure was then believed to be Medea, due to the comparison with two other works by Giaquinto in private collections (see M. Scolaro, Corrado Giaquinto. Il Cielo e la terra, exhibition catalogue, Argelato 2005, pp. 230–231). In further interpretations the figure is described as a Sibyl or an Allegory, and others again recognised the sitter as Armida from Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata, because of the clothing, her regal posture and the wand with the snake, which was meant to evoke evil in order to take vengeance on Rinaldo, who had abandoned her.

The most accredited hypothesis, however, is that the female figure is Circe from the Odyssey since the elements accompanying her refer to evil forces. More specifically, the symbols relate to the magic arts: there is a mortar to prepare potions, a skull, a snake, a book and what appears to be an astronomical map, as well as a wand with which she transformed Ulysses’ companions into pigs.

The enchantress appears as a majestic feminine figure, seated in a grotto. Her robe and hair are moved by a light breeze. The undergarment has slipped off her left shoulder, exposing her breast. With the upswept hair held in place by a metal hoop, the full lips, straight nose and rounded features, the sitter refers to Hellenistic sculptural models.

The date of the Montefortino canvas is controversial. Some scholars believe it was painted around the mid-1700s; while others date it to an earlier period (see M. Scolaro, ibid., 2005). This painting should in any case be dated on the basis of style to Corrado Giaquinto’s maturity, when the echoes of Maratti’s Classicism were combined with a reinterpretation of the Baroque and a personal interpretation of the new spirit of the Rococo.

Corrado Giaquinto trained in the studio of the Neapolitan artist Nicola Maria Rossi. In 1723 in Rome, Giaquinto started modifying the robust Neapolitan style of painting to reflect the classicising taste of the Roccoco. He was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca in Rome in 1740. With the commission of frescoes for the church of San Nicola dei Lorenesi in 1731, Giaquinto received further prestigious commissions that earned him recognition and led to sojourns in Turin and Spain. The painter was summoned to the court of Madrid in 1753 by Ferdinand VI, where he was to spend nearly a decade. His position as the preeminent artistic figure in the country was confirmed by his appointment as Primer Pintor del Rey, as well as Director of the Academia di San Fernando, newly formed by the art-loving Spanish King. Corrado Giaquinto then later returned to Naples.