Andrea Semino
Andrea Semino (1525 - Genoa - 1595) - Mars and Venus with the Cupid Boy.
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk on laid paper. 14.9 x 12.7 cm.
Andrea Semino came from a widely ramified Genoese family of painters. He was apprenticed to his father Antonio (1485-1554/5) before moving to Rome for several years with his brother Ottavio (c. 1520-1604) to study the work of Raphael and the paintings of classical antiquity. Back in Genoa, he opened his own studio and, upholding family ties, he and Ottavio accepted the commission to decorate the ambitious Palazzo Marino in Milan, which the brothers worked on from 1557-63. This drawing in the tradition of Perino del Vaga (1501-547) shows Venus embraced by Mars, with the slumbering Cupid next to her. An unfavorable marriage arrangement negotiated by Juno had made Venus the wife of Vulcanus, the smith of the gods, who did not really want to match his glamorous wife. When Venus was struck by Cupid's arrow of love, it was all over for her and so began the affair with the god of war, which was ultimately - how could it be otherwise - exposed. The thwarted lovers made Cupid atone for the arrow he had fired by imprisoning him in the net forged by Vulcanus, which she herself had previously held in a captious position. In a painting by Semino dated 1577, Venus, also nude and facing the viewer head-on, is depicted in a similar posture (Musei di Strada Nuova, Palazzo Bianco, Genoa, inv. no. PR320). Cupid reaches out for his bow, which Venus holds with a firm grip out of his reach. With her other hand she clutches his arrows, well aware of their beguiling but also ominous love spell. Drawings by the artist are very rare. - Paper slightly roughened and very slightly wavy in the upper corners verso due to former mounting. In fine condition.
Literature:
Nicholas Turner, European master drawings from Portuguese collections II: Italy and Portugal, Porto 2021, pp. 54f., cat. no. 15, with col. Illus.
Exhibition:
Desenhos de mestres italianos em coleções portuguesas (II), Museu Nacional Soares Dos Reis, Porto (October-December 2001), cat. no. 15.
Provenance:
Amédée-Paul-Émile Gasc (1817-1866), Paris and Joigny, stamped lower left (Lugt 1131);
his brother Charles Gasc (1822-after 1869), Spain and Paris, lower left with the stamp (Lugt 543), acquired by the aforementioned in 1860 (according to a note on the old, no longer available collection backing "Charles Gasc a acheté le dessin à son frère Paul Emile Gasc, à Joigny, dans l'Yonne, en Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, le 14 janvier 1860");
Sotheby's, London, auction, 4.7.2007, lot 46;
European private collection, on backing with collector's stamp "FB mit Ginkgoblatt im Oval" (not yet published by Lugt/Fondation Custodia).
Taxation: differential taxation (VAT: Margin Scheme)
