AMIGONI, Jacopo

Amigoni had spent his early career in Venice, but he left the city to make a name for himself as an international artist, quickly finding an avid audience in the various courts of Europe which had developed a taste for the charm of the Venetian Rococo. In 1730, Amigoni arrived in London fresh from a series of pictorial triumphs in Venice, Rome and at the court of the Elector of Bavaria, and soon had eager patrons amongst the English nobility and even royalty.

The pair of canvases of mythological subjects, Venus and Adonis, and Bacchus and Ariadne, represent one of the most important works by Amigoni from his seminal English sojourn. These subjects represent two of the most recognizable and classic of all mythological stories, both with a rich history of pictorial representation in Venetian art. They are taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and in the case of Venus and Adonis, Amigoni returned to the subject throughout his career.

This canvas was probably painted in Amigoni’s English period.

This painting relates the story of Jael and Sisera in tones of delicate colours that contrast emphatically with the drama of the biblical event recounted. It was painted after the artist’s return too Venice from travels that took him to most of Europe, when his palette became brighter and more refined.

Sisera was a cruel Canaanite leader who ruled the Israelites for twenty years. Barak defeated his nine hundred charioteers by a surprise Israelite attack. Sisera escaped and sought refuge in the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. She gave the terrified Canaanite sanctuary. When he fell asleep, she drove a tent peg into his brain. The act fulfilled the prediction of Debora, prophetess and Israelite leader, who foresaw that a woman would slay Sisera.

Jacopo Amigoni traveled through Europe and finally settled in Spain, where he died after painting portraits, and biblical works, such as Joseph in the Pharaoh’s Palace.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 5 minutes):

�tienne Nicolas M�hul: Joseph, aria

Juno (Greek Hera) was the chief goddess of Olympus, both the sister and wife of Jupiter (Zeus). Her role in myth and are is principally that of the wife of a faithless husband, always plotting revenge on his many lovers. Her usual attribute is the peacock which was sacred to her in antiquity. In one of the affairs of Jupiter, the giant Argus of hundred eyes was set by Juno to watch over Io, the lover of Jupiter. When Argus was murdered by Mercury, in memory of Argus Juno took his eyes and set them in the tail of her peacock (Met. 1:721-4).

Juno and Mercury, one of four mythologies painted by Amigoni for Moor Park, remains too little idealized, and faintly ludicrous. Imagination has been less exercised than industry; Amigoni’s people are real enough to be commonplace - and to feel somewhat at ease when shown sitting on clouds. with Amigoni the rococo remains solid and earthbound.

The painting represents a lady, three-quarter length, wearing a blue and white velvet dress and seated in a sumptuous interior.

Born in Naples but trained as an artist in Venice, Jacopo Amigoni soon began working in the Rococo style. Like Sebastiano Ricci and Pellegrino he often left Venice to work as one of Europe’s foremost cosmopolitan artists, fixing the evanescent rather fragile delicacy of his style in great frescoes and paintings of historical subjects both profane and sacred. Charmingly Rococo in taste are the small canvases too, usually with some mythological or courtly subject. A typical example of this type is the painting of ‘Venus and Adonis’, executed with arcadian grace in the sharpness of the composition and the clarity and softness of the colours soaked in a jewelled and diaphanous luminosity.

The story of Venus and Adonis, which has attracted not only artists but poets, including Shakespeare, tells that Adonis was the offspring of the incestuous union of King Cinyras of Paphos, in Cyprus, with his daughter Myrrha. His beauty was a byword. Venus conceived a helpless passion for him as a result of a chance graze she received from Cupid’s arrow (Met. 10:524-559). One day while out hunting Adonis was slain by a wild boar, an accident Venus had always dreaded (Met. 10:708-739). Hearing his dying groans as she flew overhead in her chariot, she came down to aid him but was too late. In the place where the earth was stained with Adonis’ blood, anemones sprouted. Artists usually depict two scenes, Amigoni painted both.

The first scene is shown on this picture. Adonis, arrow (spear in other versions) in hand and hunting dog (or dogs) straining at the leash, is impatient to be off, while Venus imploringly tries to hold him back.

The story of Venus and Adonis, which has attracted not only artists but poets, including Shakespeare, tells that Adonis was the offspring of the incestuous union of King Cinyras of Paphos, in Cyprus, with his daughter Myrrha. His beauty was a byword. Venus conceived a helpless passion for him as a result of a chance graze she received from Cupid’s arrow (Met. 10:524-559). One day while out hunting Adonis was slain by a wild boar, an accident Venus had always dreaded (Met. 10:708-739). Hearing his dying groans as she flew overhead in her chariot, she came down to aid him but was too late. In the place where the earth was stained with Adonis’ blood, anemones sprouted. Artists usually depict two scenes, Amigoni painted both.

The second scene is shown on this picture. In the forest a grieving Venus is pouring the nectar that causes Adonis’ blood to fertilize the earth. Cupid assists her. Venus’ chariot stands nearby.

Amigoni moved to London in 1729, where he remained for a decade, enjoying much success and significant patronage among the English aristocracy. During his stay in England, the artist provided large-scale mythological and historical scenes and decorative schemes for the country’s many stately homes.

Amigoni had spent his early career in Venice, but he left the city to make a name for himself as an international artist, quickly finding an avid audience in the various courts of Europe which had developed a taste for the charm of the Venetian Rococo. In 1730, Amigoni arrived in London fresh from a series of pictorial triumphs in Venice, Rome and at the court of the Elector of Bavaria, and soon had eager patrons amongst the English nobility and even royalty.

The pair of canvases of mythological subjects, Venus and Adonis, and Bacchus and Ariadne, represent one of the most important works by Amigoni from his seminal English sojourn. These subjects represent two of the most recognizable and classic of all mythological stories, both with a rich history of pictorial representation in Venetian art. They are taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and in the case of Venus and Adonis, Amigoni returned to the subject throughout his career.

Amigoni treated this subject about fifteen times during his career. It is difficult to reconstruct a chronological classification of these pieces.