Pair of paintings depicting the Allegory of Spring with putti and the Allegory of Autumn with putti, Vittorio Amedeo Rapos (Turin 1729-1800), 1786 Oil on canvas, dimensions: cm H 76 x W 95; frame: cm H 91 x W 110 x D 6 Price: private negotiation Item accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and study by Arabella Cifani published in the Galleria Giamblanco catalog. The pair of valuable paintings was created in 1786 (as indicated by an inscription on the back of one of the two paintings) by Vittorio Amedeo Rapos (or Raposo), one of the best painters active in Piedmont in the second half of the eighteenth century. The canvas presented here on the left depicts an allegory of spring with children playing, running with a puppy, and chasing hares; the work on the right represents the allegory of autumn with four putti entertaining themselves around a cart pulled by a sheep. The canvases are characterized by a precious light and a delicate and calibrated color range. The two works are connected with Rapos's paintings from the 1780s-1790s made for the Royal Palace of Turin and comparable with other allegorical-themed paintings by the author held at Bana Intesa San Paolo in Turin, the Stupinigi Hunting Lodge, and the Palazzina Marone Cinzano (now the headquarters of the Industrial Union of Turin). Clearly derived from French prototypes of the Louis XV era, the genre treated since antiquity and also widespread among Italian Renaissance painters in the form of bacchanals, willingly revived by painters of seventeenth-century classicism, experienced increasing success in France during the eighteenth century. The subjects proposed an innocent and yet mischievous vision of the relationships between the sexes, and evoked the idea of an arcadian and pastoral world full of grace and seductions. The paintings were perhaps parts of a boiserie or a decorative ensemble not yet identified (perhaps allegories of the four seasons or personifications of the twelve months of the year). Considering the high quality and the refined taste that pervades them, it is believed that they were created within the Turin Court or its closest entourage. Vittorio Amedeo Rapos, a painter linked to the Court of Turin, is noted in 1747 by documents as being present at the celebrated school of Claudio Francesco Beaumont. From 1752 his activity as the author of cartoons for the tapestries of the Royal Turin Manufactory is documented; from the same year, he also began working as a portrait painter. In 1759 Rapos is a confrere of the Academy of San Luca in Turin and from this time begins to paint altarpieces of religious subject matter for numerous churches in Piedmont. Under the guidance of Beaumont, Rapos practiced in all pictorial genres, including landscape, collaborating in 1757 with Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli for the Palazzina di Stupinigi. Also for Stupinigi, in 1765 he painted the entire decoration of the Duke of Chiablese's bedroom with hunting trophies, putti, and flowers. In the seventies the artist is now in full expansion and works for the Court, painting pictures for the castle of Moncalieri and for churches. In 1778 he was appointed professor of the refounded Academy of Fine Arts in Turin and will be registered among its members until the time of his death. In the eighties his activity expanded even further geographically, with works made for the Asti area, the Cuneo area, the Ivrea area, and for the Susa Valley. In 1785 he received commissions from the Savoy and the Dukes of Aosta, as well as for many prestigious churches in Turin.

Period: Second half of the 18th century

• Author   Vittorio Amedeo Rapos
• Info
• Phone: Andrea +39 348 4935001