36 - Nicola Maria ROSSI (Naples 1690–1768)

Nicola Maria ROSSI (Naples 1690–1768) The Four Seasons Four oval canvases. Height: 69.5 cm, Width: 89 cm. Bears a stenciled mark on the reverse: “YH736 OMP.” Previous restorations and damage. Provenance: The Four Seasons Salon in the Hôtel de La Tresne, Bordeaux, since the 18th century. Bibliography: X. Salmon, “The Seasons by Francesco Solimena: Four Previously Unpublished Paintings Preserved in Bordeaux,” in *Les Cahiers d’Histoire de l’art*, 2006, pp. 50–3, reproduced (Francesco Solimena); N. Spinosa, Francesco Solimena (1657–1747) and the Arts in Naples, Rome, 2018, p. 603, no. D5 (Nicola Maria Rossi). Nicola Maria ROSSI (Naples 1690–1768) When they were first discovered in 2012, these four paintings were attributed to Francesco Solimena and linked to the decoration of a ceiling in Angelo Maria Ferrante’s apartment in a Neapolitan palace (note 1. Mentioned by De Dominici, the artist’s biographer). Nicola Spinosa attributes them to one of Solimena’s students and collaborators: Nicola Maria Rossi, and dates them to around 1730. He does not rule out the possibility that the master provided Rossi with preparatory drawings or models—perhaps painted sketches—and that Rossi drew inspiration from them (note 2). Spinosa notes that the two paintings depicting Autumn and Winter are of superior quality compared to Spring and Summer. Our series depicts allegories of the four seasons, a common subject during the Baroque period for decorating apartments or gardens. An original detail is the presence of a snow leopard in the Winter painting. Their size, shape, and the presence of clouds indicate that they were designed as overdoor panels intended to be set into wood paneling, a style typical of the 18th century. It is unknown when these paintings arrived at the Hôtel Lecomte de Latresne in Bordeaux. This residence was built by the architect André Portier for the parliamentarian Jean-Baptiste Lecomte between 1754 and 1756, approximately twenty years after the paintings were created. Upon the death of his widow, in the absence of an heir, the mansion was acquired by Charles d’Augeard, president of the Parliament of Bordeaux, before passing into the hands of the family of Dr. de Grassi. It was occupied by Cardinal Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus, Archbishop of Bordeaux, between 1827 and 1836, and later became the headquarters of the newspaper *La Gironde*, and then, after the war, of the newspaper *Sud-Ouest*. Other rooms in the mansion were decorated with series of still lifes in the style of Pierre-Nicolas Huillot, or, in another room, with seascapes attributed to Joseph Vernet. Note 1. It appears that these were not canvases, but frescoes enhanced with gouache. Note 2. Some of the figures are based on models found in compositions by Solimena. The face of Winter resembles the one in the background of “Dido Welcoming Aeneas and Cupid Disguised as Ascagne” (London, National Gallery).