Imperiale Gramatica

(Roma, 1599 - Roma, 1634)

Oil on canvas

cm. 74x64.

The figure of Imperiale Gramatica, Antiveduto's son, has been the subject of renewed attention in recent decades, which has better framed his qualities, redeeming him, within reasonable limits, from the exclusive role of epigone, if not imitator, of his father. Some of the works that have been returned to him show in many cases good or even very good quality, as evidenced by the fact that they were often previously attributed to Antiveduto himself. This is the case with the canvas here in question, which skillfully recovers, and without any compositional or iconographic forcing, the central part of one of Imperiale's masterpieces: the large canvas (cm. 200x253) depicting all seven classical Virtues (Theological and Cardinal), last offered in Sotheby's New York sale on January 24, 2002, l. 27. Our painting is thus limited to depicting, in a room-size and format, the group of the three female figures that personify the theological virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity), drained, however, of their canonical attributes and usable, consequently, also in a key disconnected from their allegorical and religious content.