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Res. Katalogtext: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 78: 

FORMER INV. NOS.: 132 (M. 1796–97); 196 (F. 1798); 379 (M. 1804);
KM 48.

TECHNICAL NOTES: Labelled on verso: “Dominichino. Lo Studio
col Genio della Gloria”. The support consists of a single piece of
coarse, densely woven, plain-weave linen fabric. It has been lined
with glue and mounted with staples on a Martelli strainer. This was
probably done in Italy before shipping to Sweden. The tacking edges
are cropped and covered with strips of newspaper (Swedish).
There is an old repair on the verso, done with a piece of newspaper.
The ground is red and covers the whole support. The structure of
the original canvas has been reinforced by the lining process and is
clearly visible through the ground and the paint layer. The painting
has a 1 cm wide brown painted border. There are a few small retouches.
The painting is in good condition

PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1867, p. 14 (as Domenichino); Sander
1872–76, III, p. 129, no. 379 (as Domenichino); Göthe 1887, pp. 301–
302 (as Domenichino, attributed to); NM Cat. 1958, p. 107 (as Lanfranco,
manner of); NM Cat. 1990, p.193 (as Lanfranco, manner of).

Nicola Martelli’s incomplete classification of his
collection, preserved in the Nationalmuseum,
contains an interesting reference to the present
painting. Listing it in the category of second-class
works, Martelli describes the subject as well as
pointing out stylistic details which, in his opinion,
confirm its artistic value.¹

The composition and the posture of the figures
evoke Domenichino’s St Jerome in the National
Gallery, London (c. 1602). Since Martelli assigned
the present painting to Domenichino, it is likely
that he partly based his attribution on these
apparent similarities. He probably knew the St
Jerome, which has been documented in the collection
of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (1571–1621)
and, later, in that of his heir Olimpia Aldobrandini
(1623–1681).² Although the composition is not
identical, the St Jerome suggests an interesting
starting point, not only from a purely formal
point of view, but also in terms of subject matter:
19. The Study (Domenico Zampieri) The Painter
has, according to his manner, used much reflection in
depicting The Study of the Literate. He is represented
as vigilant by the symbol of the cock, since he has
been awake all night, as indicated by the dawn on the
horizon and by the extinguished lamp. Whilst absorbed
in meditation over a book, he is shaken by the genius of
Glory who has come to crown him, pointing to the holy
mountain of the muses. However, he is not moved in his
posture: he remains composed in his meditations, and
thus demonstrates once again that the true literate is not
subject to the glory of Fame as much as to the sweetness
of Wisdom herself. The composition is most ingenious:
the turning movement of the literate originates from
the ordinary situation of a person writing at a desk and
from the voice and rustling of the wings of the genius
that suddenly surprises him from behind his shoulders.
The movement of the Genius is admirable and difficult,
since in such a position it is not possible to study a
model. The literate’s abstraction is expressed not only in
his features, but in all his limbs and particularly in the
right hand that holds the pen. The drawing is admirable
(but this is common with Domenichino). What is more
unusual about this painting is the beautiful colour of
the palette, as in the one of St Jerome. And due to its
excellent primer coat (unusual in his paintings, just as in
those of Guercino, Carracci), it has been freshly preserved
in wholehearted colour.

The elaborate composition represents an
allegory of poetry and the literary effort, a theme
that must surely have appealed to Martelli’s own
literary interests. Interestingly, some details, such
as the bird, the books and the activity of writing,
evoke the iconography of St John the Evangelist.
This explains why Sander described the motif
as representing that saint and why he paid no
attention to Martelli’s label, clearly visible on the
reverse. However, Sander neglected not only to
examine Martelli’s explanation of the painting,
but also to distinguish between an eagle, the
accompanying bird of the evangelist, and a cock,
an old symbol of vigilance.

Martelli’s attribution to Domenichino cannot
be sustained. Despite the carefully drawn figure,
a typical feature of Domenichino’s work, and the
close similarities in the modelling of St Jerome’s
face and that of the poet, the painting must be
assigned to an author of the second generation
of classicist painters active in Rome during the
second half of the 17th century. Martelli mentions
the vivid colouring, a detail which – together
with the clear reverence to Domenichino’s oeuvre
as well as to the pathos of Guido Reni and the
sense of movement of Pietro da Cortona, here
visible in the formal solutions for the genius of
Glory – indicates the hand of Giovan Francesco
Romanelli.³ This painter, who found his fortune
during the Barberini pontificate (1622–44), was
probably introduced onto the Roman scene by
Domenichino and eventually trained under Pietro
da Cortona. Romanelli scholars, though, reject
the idea that he was a mere pupil of Cortona, and
stress his careful interpretation of the old stylistic
canon.⁴ This view gains further support from his
biographer Giovanni Battista Passeri, who stresses
the artist’s stylistic independence and inventive
subject matter.⁵

The present painting is a fine example of this
argument. Its classicist gravitas is vividly enlivened
by the strong palette and the ingenious
and challenging iconography, certainly a typical
feature of Romanelli’s oeuvre.
SNE

1 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet de
Martelli (à Rome). See Appendix 1.
2 Spear 1996 pp. 370–371.
3 I am indebted to Angela Negro, who has generously
discussed this proposed attribution with me.
4 Oy-Marra 2007, p. 307.
5 Passeri 1772, pp. 328–336. [End]

Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2012

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