Tritons defending Nereids. Oil on glass (reverse). Possibly Italian school (perhaps Naples), late 16th-17th century. Framed glass plate with a painting, probably an oil painting, beneath it. A landscape can be seen in the background and a series of figures in the foreground, from the waist up. A man is holding two women on the right, while, on the left, two semi-nude male figures appear attacking a sea monster (very similar to those inspired by ancient Roman works, common in painting since the Renaissance). It is first necessary to differentiate between two painting techniques that employ glass: one that uses it as a base, such as a canvas, and the other, in which the glass sits "above" the paint, with the latter applied "beneath" and inversely. This work belongs to the second method, highly prized in cabinetmaking for decorating chests, wastepaper baskets, etc., and for its similarity to enamel. It should also be remembered that glass painting was especially appreciated by the upper class between the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Ferdinand de' Medici, for example, included glass paintings by Luca Giordano in his collection in 1702. Followers of this master specialized in these years in decorating important furniture with painting under glass. In 1679, for example, Giovanni Battista Tara was paid for having created "a pair of ebony writers' tables inlaid with different paintings on glass," while Carlo Garofalo, a student of Luca Giordano and considered the best glass painter active in Naples in the second half of the 17th century, was called by Charles II of Spain to paint glass for chests and other decorations in prominent royal salons; again, Domenico Coscia is mentioned in documents as a painter "who made those glass pieces very well, which were used by writers." The list of Neapolitan painters who were disciples of Giordano, remembered for their painting on glass, can also be enriched with many other names, such as Domenico Perrone, Francesco della Torre, or Andrea Vincenti.
· Size: 41,5x2,5x18 cms. int: 8x32 cms.
ANTIQUES
Ref.: ZF1420