Lot 103: GIOVANNI BATTISTA BOLOGNINI BOLOGNA 1611/12-1688 THE DEATH OF ADONIS

oil on canvas, unframed

CATALOGUE NOTE

Although recorded by many of his contemporaries and later writers as a strict follower of Guido ("bravo allievo di Guido e ben noto maestro [C.C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice, 1678, I, p. 357]'), Bolognini appears to have become more influenced later in his career by the works of Guercino. The figural types of the present composition suggest this tendency (along with awareness of Albani) and should be later in date than another large horizontal mytholigical scene by the artist Bacchus Inviting Ariadne to Dine (Museo Davia Bargellini, Bologna, see E Negro and M. Pirondini, La Scuola di Guido Reni, Modena 1992, pp. 40-41, reproduced figs. 15-16).

We are grateful to Daniele Benati, Emilio Negro and Nicosetta Roio for confirming the attribution ot Giovanni Battista Bolognini on the basis of photographs. Drs. Negro and Roio plan to publish the present work in their addendum to the Scuola di Guido Reni.

34 1/4 by 64 in.; 87 by 162.5 cm.