Lot number 3774 - Auction
MARTYRIUM DES HEILIGEN SIMON (BOZETTO)

ANTONIO MOLINARI 21 January 1655 Venice - 3 February 1704 Ibid MARTYRDOM OF SAINT SIMON (BOZETTO) Oil on canvas (lined). 33 x 22 cm (F. 41 x 30,5 cm). Verso on old paper label attribution to Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. Frame. The oil study offered here shows Saint Simon with outstretched arms. At his feet the saw can be seen as an attribute. He is seized from behind by his tormentors. According to tradition, Simon was already very weak during the torture and could only with difficulty be held upright on the chair by his abusers with his arms stretched crosswise. As the torture continued, he died a short time later. The study is undoubtedly a preparatory work for a large altarpiece. A preparatory drawing for this composition is housed in the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf. A work by Molinari, which is in the Museum Correr in Venedig, also shows a close relationship. Here, too, the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf houses the corresponding preparatory study. Cf. on the preliminary studies: Green, R.C.: Molinari Zeichnungen in Düsseldorf, Meisterzeichnungen, 1984, Vol. 22, No.2. Further on Molinari's work in the Museum Correr: Martini, Egidio: LA PITTURA VENEZIANA DEL SETTECENTO, Venice 1964, Fig. 55 and 56. Provenance: International private collection.