Italian school; end of the 18th century- beginning of the 19th century.

Italian school; late eighteenth century - early nineteenth century.
"Portrait of Francesca Gommi Maratta".
Oil on canvas.
It presents faults in the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 100 x 78 cm; 105 x 84 cm (frame).
Portrait based on the model of Carlo Maratta (Camerano, 1625-Rome, 1713) of the portrait of his wife preserved in the Cleveland Museum. In 1700, Carlo Maratti's wife died, allowing him to marry his lifelong mistress, Francesca Gommi, who began posing for the artist in the 1670s and became the mother of his only daughter, Faustina. This painting was presumably painted shortly after the marriage as a tribute by the artist to his new wife. To introduce an allegorical element into the composition, Maratta included a painting within a painting: in this case, a drawing depicting Venus forging the love arrows of her adolescent son Cupid, suggesting that love conquers all.
Carlo Maratta, also known as Carlo Moratti, was born in Camerano, then part of the Papal States of Rome, a city to which he traveled in 1636, apparently with Taddeo Barberini's secretary, and became an apprentice in Andrea Sacchi's workshop. At this time his style was close to Sacchi's classicism, more measured and harmonious than Cortona's baroque style and influenced by Carracci, Guercino, Guido Reni, etc. He carried out numerous commissions for Pope Alexander VII (reign 1655-1667) and, from around 1660, his "portfolio of clients" spread throughout Europe and belonging to the upper class, which led to the establishment of the main workshop in Rome after the death of Bernini in 1680, when he became the most important artist in the city.
In 1664 he became director of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, further promoting the study of classical antiquity. He produced works that are preserved in the Palazzo Altieri, in the Pitti Palace in Florence, in Santa Maria in Vallicella, in the Cybo Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo, etc. It should also be noted that, in addition to his frequent religious themes, he was highly appreciated as a portraitist, and also for his works on mythological subjects. From the beginning of the 18th century, due to the economic situation, he would dedicate himself above all to the "pictorial restoration" of works by Raphael Sanzio, Carracci, etc.
Works by the master are kept in important private collections all over the world, as well as in institutions such as the Prado Museum in Madrid, the National Gallery in London, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, the Getty Museum, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium, etc.