GIROLAMO NEGRI detto IL BOCCIA

(Bologna, 1648 - 1720) Saint Peter Oil on canvas, 76X62.5 cm. A pupil of Domenico Maria Canuti and Lorenzo Pasinelli (Cf. M. Oretti c. 1760-1780, ms. B. 130, Biblioteca dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna, pp. 42-45), in 1682 the artist would tackle the decoration of the church of the Celestini, a fresco undertaking that earned him several commissions later. We recall here those for the Jesuit fathers of Modena and Mirandola, the great Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew of the counter-façade for the church of the same name in Modena, and the altarpiece depicting St. Libory Adoring the Blessed Virgin, also in Mirandola. As can be seen from the work under consideration, the artist was not exempt from those elegant neo-Renaissance influences that he was able to express with mastery in painting easel works, conceived with the classicist composure inferred from Guido Reni and refined chromatic preciousness of Pasinellian descent. The work is accompanied by a critical file by Alberto Crispo. Reference bibliography: G.P. Zanotti, Storia dell'Accademia Clementina, Bologna 1739, II, p. 102: G. Campori, Gli artisti italiani e stranieri negli Stati Estensi, Modena 1855, p. 332 G. Soli, Churches of Modena, edited by G. Bertuzzi, Modena 1974, I, p. 147 R. Roli, Bolognese Painting 1650-1800. Dal Cignani ai Gandolfi, Bologna 1977, pp. 94 and 282 P. Barocelli, L'arte degli Estensi. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century painting in Modena and Reggio, exhibition catalog, Modena 1986, pp. 210-211 A. Mazza, Schede Girolamo Negri, known as Il Boccia, in exhibition catalog Tesori ritrovati. La pittura del ducato estense nel collezionismo privato, Modena 1998, cards nn. 43-44