Italian school; 17th century.

Italian school; XVII century.
"Mythological scene".
Oil on canvas.
It has frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 62.5 x 163.5 cm 70 x 170 cm (frame).
The Italian school of the XVII century played a fundamental role in the development of the European Baroque art, consolidating itself as an aesthetic and technical reference of first order. Its influence transcended the borders of the peninsula, establishing visual models that profoundly marked the artistic taste of the continent. In this period, Italian art was characterized by a unique combination of technical virtuosity, compositional theatricality and symbolic depth, which responded not only to the religious needs of the Counter-Reformation, but also to the cultural ideals of an intellectualized elite. In this context, the treatment of Greco-Latin myth became an emblematic hallmark of the school, symbolizing both continuity with the classical tradition and the aspiration to a higher form of beauty and intellect.
One of the most notable elements of the seventeenth-century Italian school was its pursuit of an aesthetic of the sublime, in which form and content were articulated in a dynamic equilibrium. Painters such as Annibale Carracci, Guido Reni and Pietro da Cortona not only perfected the techniques of chiaroscuro and perspective, but also endowed their works with an intense emotional expression that responded to the spiritual demands of the time. Composition became more complex, figures became animated in grandiloquent gestures, and light was used as a narrative device to guide the eye and underscore the dramatic tension of the scene.
In this context of symbolic and formal elevation, classical myth occupied a central place as a vehicle for moral, philosophical and political allegories. Unlike other pictorial traditions where mythological themes were treated in a decorative or anecdotal manner, the 17th century Italian school integrated them into a broader discourse on knowledge, virtue and power. The depiction of gods, heroes and nymphs was not simply an evocation of an idealized past, but an active reflection on human archetypes and universal values. In this way, myth was transformed into a form of visual knowledge that connected humanist erudition with baroque sensibility.