Guido Reni Workshop

Workshop of GUIDO RENI (Bologna 1579-1642).
"Lucrezia".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It presents restorations.
Measurements: 109 x 85 cm, 126 x 101 cm (frame).
The author of this work gives the complete protagonism to the feminine figure, represented in a fleeting moment, alien to the spectator, creating an image that oscillates between sensuality and the sacred, one of the favorite themes of Reni and his circle. Stylistically the work is fully inscribed in the Bolognese classicist sensibility of the first Italian Baroque and reveals a close dependence on the formal language developed by the master.
The technical quality of the work is evident in the soft modeling of the body, constructed through extremely subtle gradations of light that give the flesh a pearly, almost ethereal appearance, as well as in the careful arrangement of the draperies, whose chromaticism, dominated by deep reds and creamy whites, intensifies the emotional charge of the scene. The use of chiaroscuro is not dramatic, but enveloping, concentrating the light on the face and torso to guide the viewer's gaze towards the figure's ecstatic expression.
This idealized conception of the human body, the serenity of the gesture and the melancholic beauty of the face refer directly to the models of Guido Reni, who always sought a synthesis between classical heritage and Counter-Reformation spirituality. The work shares with Reni's autograph compositions the elegance of the drawing, the compositional harmony and the aspiration to a timeless beauty, which allows us to understand it as a qualified product of his workshop.