Minerva in Triumph

The Suida-Manning Collection includes De Ferrari’s large, highly finished study for an illusionistic ceiling decoration with Hercules in triumph (at left). The present drawing describes a similar aperture, comparably heroic figure (probably Minerva), and, above each of them, the identical motif of an angel with a crown and putto with a palm frond. It represents the preliminary stage of a closely related project. The leading painter at Genoa in the early 18th century, Lorenzo translated the extravagant decorative painting of his father, Gregorio, into a more conventional and classically tempered style. The conception of both compositions depends upon a series of decorations realized by Gregorio in the late 1680s and 1690s. The graphic style of both drawings corroborates an early date; for all its inventiveness, the finished Hercules betrays some awkwardness, while the Minerva closely follows Gregorio’s vibrant pen-and-wash manner.