CAGNACCI, Guido - b. 1601 Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna, d. 1682 Wien - WGA

CAGNACCI, Guido

(b. 1601 Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna, d. 1682 Wien)

Cagnacci was an interesting Emilian painter of the mid-seventeenth century. Like many others from his region, he was actively involved in rediscovering classical Antiquity. He also holds a special place in the history of art because he moved to Vienna and so exported the latest classical style to the German-speaking world.

Cagnacci had been Guido Reni’s pupil and tended to combine references to classical models and to Raphael’s work with his own lively interest in the type of daring perspectives and brilliant compositions that the new Baroque style favoured. We can see this phase of his work in the huge canvases in Forli cathedral painted early in his career. In 1650, a journey to Venice added more colour to his palette and opened up the range of the subjects he handled to include sensual scenes with seductive half-naked young girls. This type of composition was much sought-after by collectors and opened up international avenues. Cagnacci’s move to Vienna in 1658 put the seal of success on his painting.

Flowers in a Flask

This is one of the most fascinating masterpieces of Italian still life. The Forli painting is of pivotal importance in gaining an understanding of Cagnacci’s genre work. It is clear that the canvas reveals true lyrical inspiration and is not merely a piece of clever painting. Our admiration for the impressive virtuoso skill in capturing the subject is soon replaced by a poetic feel for a fairly cheap bunch of flowers that is straining toward the light. The flowers seem to be stretching upwards, as if trying to escape the humiliation of being trapped in the tacky straw-covered flask.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 6 minutes):

Giacomo Puccini: Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums), elegy for string quartet

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Martha Rebuking Mary for her Vanity

Cagnacci was an Italian painter and engraver who studied with Guido Reni and worked in northern Italian cities and later in Vienna, at the court of Emperor Leopold I.

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Susanna and the Elders

The composition is derived from Guido Reni’s paintings of the same subject.

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The Death of Cleopatra

Cagnacci’s familiarity with the work of Guido Reni and the masters of the Bolognese manner, and his stay in Rome and encounter with Caravaggio’s painting, were a vital influence on his work. The Death of Cleopatra was painted during the period when the artist’s broad figurative range was enriched by the Dutch pictures he had seen in Vienna. An outstanding example of Cagnacci’s art, the painting is part of the long tradition of nudes that were painted under the pretext of representing mythological subjects. The sweet sensuality and languid amorous fatigue of the blond young woman contrast with the stiff and angular armchair. The entire composition is built up on an “architectural” system of regular units of form which does not allow for any ambiguity in the representation but rigorously supports the pictorial creation. Light and colour complete the definition of the figure.

The painting is signed in Latin on the left-hand upright of the chair: “GUIDUS CAGNACCIUS.”

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The Death of Cleopatra

This work from the end of his Viennese period is a broader reworking of the theme of the female nude that Cagnacci had so sensually explored on several occasions. Such works were unsurprisingly popular.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 14 minutes):

Jules Massenet: Cleopatra, Cleopatra’s aria

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