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Ercole Graziani (Bologna 1688 - 1765) Lot and His Daughters 18th Century Oil on Canvas, 148 x 116 cm Publications: Unpublished SOLD Reference Bibliography: Daniele Benati ESPRESSIONI D’ARTE, Emilian paintings from the 16th to the 18th century This painting was part of a cycle of works created by Ercole Graziani. GRAZIANI, Ercole. - Born in Bologna on August 14, 1688, to humble parents (Zanotti, II, p. 275). Orphaned at a young age, he was lodged with a relative to learn the art of goldsmithing; however, having shown a propensity for drawing and painting, at the age of eleven he returned to his mother's home and spent two years drawing, occasionally helped by Ludovico Mattioli. He then entered Palazzo Fava, where Count Pietro Ercole, as Count Alessandro had previously done before his death in 1697 (Bonfait, 2000, p. 210), welcomed Bolognese artists who wished to study and copy the famous frescoes of the Carracci or the works in their collection. In Casa Fava, G. met Donato Creti, beginning his apprenticeship. Zanotti (II, p. 310) recounts an emulation contest in Palazzo Fava between Domenico Maria Fratta and G. (Mazza, 1994, pp. 26-28, 34). Those years were fundamental for the formation of the young G., who was able, through the patronage of Count Fava and through the Creti apprenticeship, to trace the sources of that Bolognese pictorial tradition, particularly in vogue in that cultural circle: besides the Carracci, especially the line that goes from Guido Reni to Simone Cantarini and from the latter to Flaminio Torri and Lorenzo Pasinelli (Roli, 1994-95, pp. 21-24). Zanotti (II, p. 277) also mentions among the first works of G. three canvases depicting episodes from the life of St. Catherine of Bologna sent "to Naples for a chapel in I don't know which church," where "Naples" probably stands for "Kingdom of Naples," because three paintings with similar subjects are found in the church of S. Francesco in Chieti, and one of them, during the restoration of 1978, revealed the signature and the date 1714. These are works executed with a certain refinement and elegance, typical of his best paintings. The four ovals with Saints Peter, Paul, Petronius and Zama (a fifth with "Our Lady" has been lost) in the chapter hall of S. Pietro in Bologna are mentioned by Zanotti (II, p. 277), among the first works realized, but not mentioned in the guide of Bologna in 1732. Roli (1977, p. 119) emphasizes their similarity to Renian models with luministic touches, especially in St. Peter, in the line of the Cantarini, Pasinelli, and Creti tradition. Due to their "decidedly archaizing" appearance, Mazza (1997, pp. 118, 125 n. 38) has inferred that their dating should probably be placed around 1722, when the embellishment works related to the environment of the original destination were concluded. Also dating back to the first period, when the relationship with his master Creti was closer, is the beautiful and elegant palette with the Madonna, the Child, St. Irene and an angel, in the Musées royaux d'art et d'histoire in Brussels, formerly attributed to Pietro da Cortona (Roli, 1963, p. 173 n. 12 bis; Mazza, 1995, p. 39), which derives in part from a drawing by Creti in the Koenig-Fachsenfeld collection in Stuttgart, in turn derived from a drawing by Cantarini with the Coronation of a saint (Florence, Museo Horne). The relationship between the Madonna with Child and a saint in the Bordoni collection in Bologna has also been noted (Roli, 1963, pp. 168 ff.) and a drawing by Cantarini with the same iconography in Rio de Janeiro (Biblioteca nacional), where a drawing by G. with a similar subject has also been found (Mazza, 1997, p. 392 n. 184). In the Rape of Proserpina and the Rape of Europe from a Bolognese private collection, echoes have been caught of Creti from the Stories of Achilles or the Rural Scene (Bologna, Collezioni comunali d'arte e Pinacoteca nazionale: Roli, 1971, p. 82), interpreted with a sweet, Arcadian lightness. A drawing related to the Rape of Europe has been identified on the London art market (Vertova, 1984, p. 436; Roli, 1991, pp. 270-272). In March 1727, G. was admitted to the Accademia Clementina. Dating back to this period is the Ascension in the Pinacoteca di Cento, "a very beautiful painting in all its parts, [...] which was written with great reason to be the work of one of our most worthy masters," remembered by Zanotti (II, p. 278) in the oratory of the Compagnia della Purità. A receipt dated April 30, 1728, found in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena, has been noted for this painting (communication from Miller to Roli, 1971, p. 80). Not far from the Ascension are the Lot and his Daughters and the pendant with Susanna and the Elders in the Pinacoteca di Bologna (Roli, 1963, p. 168), "paintings aligned with the strenuous formal idealization of Creti" (Id., 1977, p. 119). A version with some variations of Susanna has been published (Mazza, 1995). The Death of St. Francis Regis, now in the church of Pietà in Bologna, coming from S. Ignazio, cited there by Zanotti (II, p. 279), is mentioned by the guide of Bologna in 1732 (Roli, 1963, p. 169). Bonfait (2000, pp. 339, 450 doc. 7) reports the commission to G. by the rector of the seminary of S. Ignazio Giuseppe Foccaci, dated July 26, 1731, of a canvas with the image of three saints desired by the rector, according to the idea agreed upon between them. Intended for a side chapel of the new church, the work was to be delivered within a year so that it could be exhibited in the chapel for the feast of St. Ignatius. This is probably the same canvas cited by the guide of Bologna and by Zanotti. Roli (1971, p. 82) assigns to immediately subsequent years the two canvases with Esther fainting before Ahasuerus and with Judith and Holofernes, formerly in S. Marta, now in the Opera pia dei poveri vergognosi, identified with those executed for the Scarani family (Roli, 1981, pp. 47 ff.; Masini, 1995, pp. 247 ff.) which constituted a series with two other canvases depicting Moses driving away the shepherds and helping the Midianite maidens and Rachel receiving gifts from Eleazar, cited by Zanotti (II, p. 278), also listed by Oretti (p. 118), who mentions a fifth painting with Christ and the Samaritan at the well. Roli has traced the preparatory drawing for the picture with Esther and Ahasuerus, at the Gabinetto dei disegni e delle stampe of the Pinacoteca di Brera, deriving in turn from the Swooning of Julia, wife of Pompey (Bologna, Pinacoteca nazionale), the famous painting by Pasinelli (Roli, 1981, pp. 47 ff., n. 78), which for a long time had to remain a model of study for Bolognese painters (Mazza - Pasinelli, p. 502). A relationship has also been established between the two paintings by G. and the two canvases with Stories of Solomon by Creti in the Musée des beaux-arts of Clermont-Ferrand, executed for Cardinal T. Ruffo by 1727 (Roli, 1971, p. 84). Zanotti himself immediately after listing the four Scarani paintings informs of the continuous and assiduous study of the artist: "I do not give here for brevity to each painting by this worthy painter the due praises, but let it be known that he has always gone from good to better, because of his great activity in art, and his continuous study, and the diligence that he puts into it." Another painting of which preparatory drawings have been preserved is the one in the church of S. Pietro in Piacenza with Saints Peter and Paul "when they were divided from each other to go to martyrdom" (Zanotti, II, p. 280). A preparatory drawing is preserved in Stuttgart (Thiem, 1983, pp. 130-132), another is reported in the Galleria Rizzi of Sestri Levante (Mazza, 1997, p. 125 n. 27). The Martyrdom of Saints George and Alexandra, commissioned by Cardinal Ruffo (Zanotti, II, p. 280), was placed in the cathedral of Ferrara on August 22, 1635, according to a news contained in the manuscript by G.A. Scalabrini, Annali delle chiese di Ferrara, at the Biblioteca comunale of Ferrara, in direct competition with the altarpiece by F. Torelli with the Martyrdom of St. Maurelio (Roli, 1963, p. 169). A painting "very remarkable for the invention, and for the disposition, and has a good design, and coloring, and a certain elegance of painting" (Zanotti, II, p. 280). In it, a marked sense of the monumental and a certain luministic taste are combined in a balanced synthesis without excesses (Roli, 1991, pp. 264-267). A preparatory drawing is in the National Gallery of Edinburgh (Id., 1963, p. 169); another is in Madrid, Museo del Prado (Mena Marqués, 1990, p. 88). In the Edinburgh drawing, a first version of the subject is elaborated, not respected in the final draft, to which the Madrid drawing is closer. The Edinburgh drawing according to Roli (1963, p. 170) calls for a comparison the painting with the Prodigal Son of the Grimaldi collection in Cento, painted "with an almost unsuspected verve". Roli also points out a drawing with the Prodigal Son in Florence in the Gabinetto dei disegni e delle stampe (inv. 15740) to underline a theme quite dear to the artist and his patrons. We know of a series of "four ovals [...] with the Life of the Prodigal Son" that G. painted for the Michelini family (Crespi, p. 276). Also in Ferrara in the bishop's curia there is a David and Abigail, painted as a pendant with a painting by F. Monti probably commissioned by Cardinal Ruffo (Roli, 1977, p. 119), which stands out for a particularly lively and casual pictorial execution. The Death of St. Juliana Falconieri (Bologna, church of the Servi) was executed in 1737 on the occasion of the canonization on June 6 of that year. Still for S. Maria dei Servi he later executed the Ecstasy of blessed Gioacchino Piccolomini particularly praised by Cochin and mentioned in the guide of Bologna of 1755 (cfr. Roli, 1963, p. 173 n. 18). On Christmas Eve of 1738 in S. Pietro in Bologna (Mazza, 1997, p. 115) two altars were discovered, near the presbytery, one with the painting by Giuseppe Marchesi and the other, opposite, with a painting by G. depicting St. Peter consecrating Apollinaris as bishop, whose model is in the Pinacoteca nazionale di Bologna. The commissioner was Archbishop Prospero Lambertini, who had been able to see the altarpiece almost completed in G.'s workshop and on which he expressed praise for the multiplicity of expressions and attitudes of the various characters (Zanotti, II, p. 281). An important work, which is believed to have been executed in 1737 (Roli, 1971, pp. 84, 86, n. 26), where one can also glimpse a certain naturalistic taste typical of that tradition that has its roots in the Carracci, lightened by a delicate touch reminiscent of the lesson of Pasinelli (Mazza, 1997, p. 115). The altarpiece of S. Pietro was remarkably successful, arousing the envy of Creti, as Zanotti always notes (Ottani Cavina - Roli, p. 146), but procuring G. a whole series of commissions that he himself did not know how to satisfy. Certainly the balance between decorum and verisimilitude, combined with a lyrical-intimate vein, decisively contributed to the affirmation of G. inside and outside Bologna. The work was replicated by Lambertini himself, who became pope in 1740 with the name of Benedict XIV. The commission was entrusted to G. after the interruption of his contacts with Creti. The painting was sent to Rome in 1745. The Cracas reported on April 2, 1746, that the canvas was in the apartment of the Princes in the pontifical palace in Montecavallo. Only in November 1747 was the canvas transported and placed in S. Apollinare. The success prompted the pope to ask G. to execute the heads of the twelve apostles in twelve head paintings and invite him to stay in Rome, but G. preferred to remain in his city. The canvas with St. Pellegrino Laziosi, painted for the Servants of Mary of Faenza, today in the archbishopric, was commissioned for 80 scudi by the father master Giacomo Giuliani who brought it from Bologna on November 27, 1739. It was exhibited on August 23, 1741, the feast of the saint, and seems to derive from a painting by Cantarini executed around 1639 for the Servants of Mary of Forlì (Mazzotti-Corvara, 1975, pp. 43, 154 ff.). The iconography of the Faenza painting will be repeated with some substantial variations in the later St. Pellegrino Laziosi in S. Martino di Senigallia dating back to 1745 (Mencucci, 1994, I, p. 867); the related sketch has been found in a private collection (Mazza, 1995, p. 40). In 1745 G. signed and dated the altarpiece in S. Paolo di Casale Monferrato, depicting St. Charles Borromeo handing over the decree of appointment as bishop to blessed Alessandro Sarli (Gabrielli, 1935, pp. 98 ff.). At the end of the fourth decade contacts are documented with the Carmelites of Medicina, for whom he executed the paintings with St. Simon Stock (1739) and St. Peter Thomas receiving the sum of 200 scudi (Samoggia, 1983, pp. 167-169). In the teletta of the sacristy of S. Giovanni in Monte in Bologna with the Immaculate and three saints, dated on the back 1740, Roli sees Creti and Canterinian suggestions (1977, p. 138 n. 117). The Comunità di Medicina on June 12, 1740, signed a contract with G. "to make a painting twelve feet high and eight feet wide", depicting the Blessed Virgin with Saints Peter, Paul, Mamolo [Mamante] and Lucia, and to complete it within two years for an expense of 1300 lire. The contract stipulated that, once completed, the work would be exhibited to the public in Bologna. On August 23, 1742, the canvas was exhibited in the Bolognese church of S. Maria dei Servi and was judged one of his best works (Samoggia, 1984). The painting signed and dated 1742 denotes "a substantial and beautifully shaded colorism" (Roli, 1991, p. 268). A preparatory drawing is preserved in Philadelphia, Museum of Art (Cazort - Johnston, p. 137). The sketch is kept in the rectory. That the credit of G.'s art was growing is demonstrated by a lett