Giuseppe Antonio Petrini

(Carona, 1677 - Craona)

Oil on canvas

102x77 cm. Framed

This superb figure of a prophet, at once powerful and graceful, rightly enters the catalog of autograph works by Giuseppe Antonio Petrini, among the most fascinating painters active between Lombardy and Ticino in the first half of the 18th century. We find here his typical chromatic arrangements, his squillating luministic accents, his peculiar combination of plasticity and dynamism. Similar peculiarities are found in many of his single-figure compositions, in that rich repertoire of saints, prophets, philosophers, mathematicians and astronomers that constitutes his specialty. One need only think of the Socrates in the Ligustica Academy in Genoa, the Saint or Prophet in the Civic Museum in Biella, the Evangelist Mark in the Episcopal Seminary in Pavia, or the Prophet Isaiah in the Parish Church in Morbegno.