Gaetano Gandolfi

The painter and engraver, Gaetano Gandolfi, grew up in a family of artists. He was the pupil of his elder brother, Ubaldo Gandolfi, and of Ercole Lelli at the Accademia Clementina in Bologna and, in 1760, spent a year studying in Venice, where he was influenced in particular by the work of Giambattista Tiepolo. After his return to Bologna, Gandolfi became one of the most sought-after decoration and fresco painters of his time. His position as a teacher at the Bologna Academy enabled him to exert a decisive influence on the work of the generations of artists who came after him. Moreover, Gandolfi produced a quite extensive printed œuvre comprising reproductive engravings as well as works of his own invention. In the present extremely rare print Gandolfi reproduces Poussin’s famous painting The Death of Germanicus in reverse. Poussin’s frequently copied, varied and reproduced composition exerted a lasting influence on the iconography of the hero’s death and assumed all but iconic significance for history painting in the Neoclassicist period. A very fine impression with margins. Minor ageing, two smoothed vertical folds on the verso, otherwise in excellent, pristine condition. From the collections of Raffaele Alianello (Lugt 5k), Philipp Herrmann (Lugt 1352a) and Eugenio Tinto (not in Lugt).