Attributed to CORRADO GIAQUINTO (Italy, 1703 - 1765/66)."Apollo rewarding the arts (Allegory of

Attributed to CORRADO GIAQUINTO (Italy, 1703 - 1765/66).
"Apollo rewarding the arts (Allegory of the monarchy as patrons of the arts)".
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn in the 19th century.
It presents restorations.
Measurements: 50 x 60,5 cm.
The preparatory oil sketch shown here was intended for a decoration that no longer exists in the Royal Palace. The work shows Apollo, a figure representing the Spanish monarchy, rewarding with treasures the figures representing painting, architecture and sculpture. On the lower right the figure of History, winged but with her foot firmly on the ground, records the scene for posterity. The role of the king as the architect of peace and prosperity within his kingdom was emphasised throughout the complex iconographic programme of decoration, written for the New Royal Palace in 1748 by Father Martin Sarmiento.
Due to its formal characteristics, the present work is attributed to Corrado Giaquinto, an Italian painter of the 18th century who is considered to be the greatest representative of Rococo painting in Rome at the time. Owing to his compositional mastery and masterful use of colour, the Italian artist became a point of reference for several generations of Spanish painters. We can see how the saint, dressed in her characteristic Dominican habit, kneels before the vision of the risen Christ. A leading representative of Rococo painting in Rome in the first half of the 18th century, Giaquinto's work was a point of reference for several generations of Spanish painters. Appointed painter to Ferdinand VI in 1753 and until 1762, he was also artistic director of the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara and director general of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. His language, which began with rococo and evolved in an increasingly classical direction, is characterised by a great sense of scenography and chromatic subtleties of extraordinary beauty. These two features are clearly evident here; the composition is totally theatrical, with the clarity of classicism combined with the elegant and graceful dynamism of rococo. The stage is organised in depth, playing with the position of the cumulus clouds and seeking a naturalistic representation of the space, with a sense of scenography inherited from the Baroque period. Giaquinto's is a classically influenced rococo, and his works will increasingly denote a more solid classicism: compositions of greater spatial clarity, as we see here, populated by solemn figures with lively gestures. However, this work is also related to Giaquinto because of its subject, which can be directly related to the work by his hand entitled "The Holy Trinity, the Virgin and Saints", painted between 1755 and 1756 and now in the Museo del Prado. In this work by the master, the format changes to landscape in order to include a larger number of figures: the saints John, the Fathers of the Church and several other saints. Furthermore, in Giaquinto's work Jesus and God the Father appear crowning the Virgin, a detail that is omitted here. However, even the composition of the oil painting presented here shows a knowledge of Giaquinto's work, with the same closed arched structure in the upper part, the gradation of light, the golden light in the upper part, etc. Giaquinto's "The Holy Trinity, the Virgin and Saints" is a sketch for the dome of the Royal Chapel in the New Palace in Madrid.