(Venice 1652–1736)
Venus and Amor with a putto,
oil on canvas, 64 x 50 cm, framed

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for confirming the attribution of the present painting after examination in the original and his help in cataloguing this lot.

This work by the Venetian painter Nicolò Bambini is part of the artist’s large and varied oeuvre that was highly appreciated, but subsequently neglected. Only in the last 30 years the importance of Bambini’s artistic production has been rediscovered. A useful monographical essay by Roberto Radassao (Saggi e memorie di storia dell’arte 22, 1998) may serve as a point of departure for any further analysis of the artist and his work.

The present picture is characterised by a relatively fluid, open brushwork and a luminous palette. Details such as the pearls and other ornaments are rendered with great care, and the overall impression is greatly enhanced by the effect of chiaroscuro.

This picture can be stylistically assigned to Bambini’s early production. He was taught in Venice, according to the sources, by the Florentine-born painter Sebastiano Mazzoni. Some echoes of Mazzoni’s loose brushwork is apparent in the present picture, but the sensuous atmosphere has much more in common with the work of Pietro Liberi, whose eroticizing compositions, often of mythological themes, were highly sought after during this period. This work also displays the influence of the Milanese born Federico Cervelli whose freely painted, mythological pictures have a lot in common with Bambini’s early works.

This work is a significant example of Nicolò Bambini’s early, painterly production. It can be distinguished from his mature, Roman-influenced classicist manner, for which he was also celebrated in his native Venice.