(Milan 1638-after 1694 Venice) Susanna and the Elders, on the reverse (on the original canvas, conservation documentation available) signed: C.. velli, oil on canvas, 76 x 96 cm, framed,

We are grateful to Prof. Giancarlo Sestieri, Rome, for pointing us to Cervelli (e-mail to the consignor of 17 January 2010). After training in Lombardy, Cervelli settled in Venice as a thirty year old with a workshop which even then was flourishing. Amongst his first commissions were canvases for the Casa Moro alle Convertite, the Oratorio dei Bottegheri and for the Chiesa di San Cassiano, as listed by Marco Boschini in 1674. There are influences in his oeuvre from the work of various artists of the departing 17th century, such Pietro Liberi and Sebastiano Mazzoni. Cervelli was very impressed with their naked goddesses, as he was with those of Luca Giordano. He reworked these influences into a dynamic, sensitive, naturalistic style with a cleverly employed chiaroscuro. In this painting of Susanna one can see the influence of the classicising painter, Liberi; however, Cervelli outdoes his model. As Rodolfo Pallucchini noted, “Un Liberi più mosso e capriccioso, con effetti di chiaroscuro pittorico più vivace...”. The intermingling of the traditions of coloration of Venice with Classicism of the Roman kind and the outgoing naturalistic impulse from Luca Giordano is very interesting.