Follower of Guido Reni

Follower of GUIDO RENI (Calvenzano di Vergato, Bologna, 1575 - Bologna, 1642).
"Dolorosa".
Oil on canvas.
It presents restorations.
Measurements: 76 x 61 cm; 87 x 62 cm (frame).
Devotional work in miniature where the author presents us the Virgin Mary bust, in the foreground and captured in large size, occupying most of the pictorial surface. It is a monumental figure, worked with great delicacy and directly illuminated by a clear and uniform light, with classical roots. Mary stands out against a neutral, flat and dark background, illuminated around her head by the halo of golden light.
The piece presents certain aesthetic proximity with the painting of Guido Reni, specifically with the work entitled "Mater Dolorosa" which belongs to the collection of the Dulwich Picture Gallery in the United Kingdom. Undisputed master of the Roman-Bolognese classicism together with Albani and Domenichino, Guido Reni was undoubtedly the best of the three. Closely linked to the Carracci family and the city of Bologna, they all had a similar trajectory. They trained in Bologna with Denys Calvaert, and then moved on to the Accademia degli Incamminati, directed by Ludovico Carraci. In 1600 Reni arrived in Rome, where he worked with Annibale Carracci in the Farnese Gallery. His best period begins in these years; in 1609, at Annibale's death, Reni remains as the head of the classicist school. In the city he will be protected by Scipione Borghese, the future Pope Paul V, for whom the painter will realize one of his most important works, "La Aurora" (Palazzo Rospigliosi). It shows something that will always be characteristic of Reni's style, his admiration for ancient sculpture. Starting from the classical statues, he develops an ideal of beauty and perfection that will be much admired by the following painters. In 1614 he returned to Bologna for good. Reni's style evolves in a clear direction, more and more sculptural and cold, more and more fully classicist. His mature work will be characterized by a cold palette, with silvery reflections. Finally, from the 1930s, his style became sketchy, with an unfinished appearance and a tendency towards monochrome, of great interest from a technical as well as a formal point of view.Guido Reni is currently represented in the most important art galleries around the world, including the Prado Museum, the Hermitage, the Louvre, the Metropolitan in New York and the National Gallery in London, among many others.