Fermo Ghisoni - Adonis - image-1

Lot 2013 Nα

Fermo Ghisoni - Adonis

Auction 1153 - overview Cologne
30.05.2020, 11:00 - Fine Art
Estimate: 40.000 € - 50.000 €
Result: 50.000 € (incl. premium)

Fermo Ghisoni

Adonis

Oil on canvas. 170 x 115 cm.

On 20th October 1545, Cardianal Ercole Gonzaga mentioned in a letter to the scholar Paolo Giovio that the Mantuan court painter Fermo Ghisoni was staying in Rome. Ercole Gonzaga was not just anyone; he was the Bishop of Mantua and as uncle of the still underage Francesco he also ran the duchy's government. The court of Mantua was known as one of the most opulent and cultured in all of Italy, attracting artists such as Andrea Mantegna, Giulio Romano, Domenico Fetti and Peter Paul Rubens. The letter demonstrates how information about artists and art works was shared between courts and artistic centres, and in this case it is particularly interesting as it allows us to draw conclusions about the genesis and history of this work, Fermo Ghisoni's Adonis.
The painting depicts a nude youth standing almost life sized in elegant contrapposto and looking out towards the beholder. He holds a spear in his left hand and his right hand is placed upon his hip. He is unclothed save for a thin cloak covering his upper body and left forearm. The fabric of the cloak flutters as if moved by a gentle breeze, playing about the arm which rests upon the stone beside the figure. A hunting dog by the youth's side looks up towards him with a faithful gaze.
We do not know who commissioned this painting. However, we can assume that the work's patron, like any other connoisseur of the time, would have recognised the parallels between this male nude and the famous ancient statue of Adonis then housed in the collection of the Pope's physician Franceso Fusconi. The work was found in Rome and was considered for many centuries to be one of the finest ancient Roman sculptures ever discovered. Fermo Ghisoni must have seen the statue in Fusconi's collection during his stay in Rome in 1545. Comparing this work to the ancient sculpture, one notices that Ghisoni has remained quite close to the model, but has reconstructed the missing left hand and left out the boar's head. Lucco dates the painting to the year 1546, shortly after the artist's return from Rome. He also assumes that the work is intended to depict the beautiful young Adonis, whose tragic end is recorded in ancient myth. This is particularly interesting since at the time this work was painted, scholars were still debating whether the statue depicted Adonis or Meleager. Whilst Adonis was favoured initially (including the work's owner), it was later generally agreed that the work depicted Meleager and it came to be known up until the present day as the Meleager Pighini after its later owner (cf. Francis Haskell & Nicholas Penny: Taste and the Antique. The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900. London 1981, p. 263-265).
A painting reiterating such a famous Roman sculpture must have found favour in Mantua, since the ducal court was in possession of its own considerable collection of antiquities. One of the later Dukes of Mantua was to attempt without success to acquire the Meleager Pighini for his own collection. This depiction of Adonis is one of just a few rare works able to be securely attributed to Fermo Ghisoni, an artist from the circle of Giulio Romano who also helped with the painted decoration of the Palazzo del Tè, one of the great masterpieces of Mannerism.

Certificate

Prof. Dr. Mauro Umberto Lucco, Bazzano 09.01.2018.

Provenance

Swiss private collection.