The Portrait of a Lady by Lucia Anguissola or The Three Graces, an oil on canvas already attributed to Francesco Vanni and Rutilio Manetti, and recently returned to the hand of Ventura Salimbeni: they are among the small treasures that will descend the stairs of the Borghese Gallery to arrive from the deposit in the attic up to the wonderful rooms so deservedly visited. For about 1 month, from 4 January to 7 February 2022, the Gallery directed by Francesca Cappelletti, inaugurates the "Paintings descend the stairs" initiative to enhance small treasures that do not find a place every day in the exhibition itinerary and are kept in the deposits, located above the exhibition floors and currently not accessible.
It is about fifteen works that, in rotation, will enrich the exhibition. Small paintings with figures and landscapes, on canvas or wood, but also copper, mainly of the Flemish school, but not only.
Of particular note is the core of female painters, including the Portrait of a Lady by Lucia Anguissola, probably the portrait of her sister Sofonisba, also a painter. A delicate face framed by a light lace and edged with golden light, holding the cord necklace between her fingers, a pictorial sign of Lucia's recognizability.
Or Le tre graces, an oil on canvas already attributed to Francesco Vanni and Rutilio Manetti, and recently returned to the hand of Ventura Salimbeni.
The picture represents a landscape embellished with profiles of light, in the manner of Paul Brill, in the center of which are depicted the three Graces, Aglaia, Eufrosine and Talìa, according to Greek and Roman mythology, divinities linked to the cult of nature and vegetation, or, according to the Neoplatonic vision, the three faces of Love, Chastity, Voluptuousness and Beauty, linked to the cult of Venus-Aphrodite.
(HANDLE).