1320 - GIUSEPPE BARTOLOMEO CHIARI

GIUSEPPE BARTOLOMEO CHIARI (attributed to) Silvio, Dorinda, and Linco Oil on canvas, 77.5 x 60 cm; set in a 17th-century gilded wooden frame with an engraved band The painting depicts an episode from Battista Guarino’s play *Pastor Fido* (1602): it faithfully follows the narrative of Act IV, which takes place in a forest and highlights the close relationship between the three characters in Scene 9—Silvio, Dorinda, and Linco. The old servant Linco supports Dorinda, who has been wounded by Silvio by mistake. Silvio had mistaken her for a wolf because Dorinda was wearing a wolfskin lent to her by her servant, the goatherd Lupino, so that she could follow her beloved Silvio on the hunt. On the right, Silvio—to whom Dorinda has confessed her love—has just snapped the bow with which the girl was wounded; on the left, at the top, a cherub shoots the arrow that seals the couple’s love. In the painting, rich in references to Cortona and Maratti, one can discern a pictorial style that brings it close to the work of Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari, with a precise and deliberate stylistic autonomy, imbued with the classicist sentiment that was in vogue in Rome at the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries, while not neglecting French influences and a measured eclecticism. A work of great interest that warrants further study. Bibliography: See N. Pio, *Vite de’ pittori, scultori ed architetti*, edited by R. and K. Enngass, Vatican City 1978, index L. Pascoli, *Vite de’ pittori*, I, Rome 1730, pp. 145, 209–217, 260 G. Sestieri, *Repertorio della Pittura Romana della Fine del Seicento e del Settecento*, vol. I, Turin 1994, under the entry.