Francesco Noletti's workshop, 17th century

Roman school, XVII century. Workshop of FRANCESCO NOLETTI (Valletta? c. 1611-Rome, 1654).
"Triumph of the sea".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 110 x 178 cm.
In this scene, starring tritons and nereids, a fertile imagination has been deployed that takes us into the realm of mythical creatures that ploughed the imagination of the poets of Ancient Greece. The painting can be related to the baroque models established by the Roman school painter Francesco Noletti, known as il Maltese. The work has been identified as coming from Noletti's workshop because of the splendor of the still lifes that proliferate everywhere: fish of all sizes, starfish, crabs, crabs, huge mantas... overflowing from fountains, spilling over the luxurious ship carved with masks, hanging from reeds and spears... Silver glitter snakes over the scaled bodies. The plastic exuberance, the surreal combination of sumptuous or succulent elements, the brilliant colors... were attributes of Noletti's painting. Here we see advancing the retinue of fantastic beings, progeny of Poseidon and Amphitrite. The call of the air horns in the form of conch shells sets the group in action. The naked torsos are topped with fish tails, which flap their tails and make the water churn. Each character has been individually characterized while interacting with the rest. In the distance, you can see island territories shrouded in enigma. Dreamy orographies in cerulean tones behind which the horizon is blurred.
Francesco Noletti, known as il Maltese, was an Italian Baroque painter, born, as his nickname indicates, in Malta and specialized in still life painting. Noletti's still lifes have been attributed to the so-called Francesco Fieravino or Fioravanti, a confused creation of the 18th century, until, in the early 2000s, his true identity was discovered from an anonymous portrait preserved in the Foundation for International Studies in Valletta, in the building of the old university. His biography shows that around 1640 or earlier he settled in Rome, where he married and collaborated with Andrea Sacchi. Famous already during his lifetime, he was praised, always by his nickname, by Cornelis de Bie and Joachim von Sandrart and later also by Joshua Reynolds, among others. In the absence of signed works, two engravings published in 1703 by Jacobus Coelemans on paintings by the Maltese, entitled Omnis salus in ferro est and Quaedam sensum instrumenta, have served as a basis for establishing his style, in which some elements are repeated. His rich still lifes are characterized by the presence of Turkish carpets, tapestries and curtains covering the tables and shelves on which rest pieces of crockery, flowers and fruits capriciously arranged next to some precious object, musical instruments and framed pictures or mirrors. Three still lifes, already identified as the work of "il Maltese" by Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, are kept in the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, where they were admitted in the 1920s with attributions to Antonio de Pereda and Pieter Boel.