Francesco Graziani Ciccio Napoletano

Francesco Graziani Ciccio Napoletano - Challenge between horsemen on horseback, Second half of the 17th century H cm 22.5x31 Oil on canvas "The work is to be considered part of the artistic production of the seventeenth-century painter Francesco Graziani, known as Ciccio Napoletano, reminiscent with that epithet of his place of birth and training. The painting under consideration is characterized by a crowded composition, where among the contrasts of areas in light and areas in shadow, characters with physiognomies and garments of Neapolitan pictorial reminiscence from the first half of the century stand out. Graziani is mentioned within the Barberini inventories as the author of scenes with horses, seascapes and battles, and his fame is linked to this genre of painting. The horsemen assert themselves against a clear landscape background, delineated with a rapid, nervous stroke, enlivened by effective areas of light and uniform chromatic vibration. This is not a heroic tale but a realistic one; the brush strokes are snappy and lively, the subject matter takes shape through strands of pure color to violently depict horses and horsemen. The great fury and bizarreness that are narrated in this painting are to be compared with other works by the artist such as the Battle Scene preserved at Palazzo Bardini in Florence or the Combattimento di cavalieri at the Museo di Palazzo Pretorio in Prato. ASOR Studio"