ROME.- The Galleria Borghese announces its acquisition of the painting Country Dance (c. 1601-02). After a series of intensive studies, the restoration of its attribution to Guido Reni (Bologna 1575-1642) – together with its documented provenance from Cardinal Scipione Borghese’s collection – constitutes one of the most important and unexpected discoveries of the last few years.
In addition to its art-historical value, its documented provenance from Scipione Borghese’s collection enables us to add an important detail to the fundamental matter of the relations between the Borghese family and Guido Reni. The cardinal wanted to make Reni his court painter, considering him – after the death of Annibale Carracci – the most important artist in Rome. The Borghese family, in the person of Pope Paul V, entrusted him with the frescos of The Pauline Chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore and commissioned one of his greatest masterpieces, the Aurora, in what is now the Pallavicini-Rospigliosi garden house, Cardinal Scipione Borghese’s first construction undertaking and residence.
Confirming this predilection, the collection included more than one work by the artist, including his Saint Cecilia, which was executed a few years later and is now in the Norton Simon Museum, in Pasadena. The Galleria still possesses another major work by Reni, completely different with regard to its genre and subject: the Moses with the Tablets of the Law, from the artist’s mature period.
Attributed to an anonymous Bolognese artist, in 2008 the Country Dance was presented at an auction at Bonham’s in London. Its high quality led to an investigation, which highlighted a significant and original moment in the development of this genre of landscape with figures and an amusing, festive, or amorous subject. After the first suggestions regarding its attribution – Emilian painters specialized in the genre, from Viola to Tamburini; Badalocchio; Domenichino; the young Guercino; and Mastelletta – the painting was assigned to Agostino Carracci on the basis of a comparison with a painting of his with a similar subject, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Marseille. This attribution was soon discarded for stylistic and chronological reasons, and eventually Reni’s autography was recognized by Keith Christiansen because of similarities with several works by the master that had come onto the market for antiquities. Decisive confirmation comes from Weston-Lewis and E. Fumagalli with the identification of the painting in the inventories and descriptions of Scipione Borghese’s collection. Throughout the 17th century it is clearly described, as, for example, in the detailed inventory of Palazzo Borghese drawn up in 1693: “painting on canvas with a Village with many figures and a dance in the Country 3 and a half palms high gilded Frame N.°(sic) by Guido Reni”. Subsequently there is no trace of the painting except for its mention in the sale catalogue of 1892, which attributes it to a Flemish school. The identification of the work at the Galleria Fondantico, which displayed it in March 2020 at the TEFAF, and its subsequent acquisition thus enabled us to accomplish the exceptional recovery of a painting long considered lost and bring it back definitively to Italy.
The scene depicts a country fete: a dance, accompanied by the music of the lute and the vjola da braccio, organized by a group of countrymen and benevolently attended by several local ladies and gentlemen, the latter in the guise of hunters. The figures are seated in a circle, in a clearing amidst trees, next to which a stream is flowing. In the center, a young rustic is inviting a lady to begin the dancing. We note the varied poses of the figures. A somewhat bored lady is turning towards her neighbor, while on the opposite side two women are taking care of a child; the lute player has paused take one of the flasks left to cool on the bank, while a young man, who is probably already inebriated, has fallen asleep next to the empty flask. On a little bridge, a woman is leading a child towards the fete, while several groups of hunters and other figures are scattered in the hilly landscape dotted with castles, farms, and a small church. In the background, a body of water furrowed by several sails is illuminated by the twilight, while at the top several birds stand out against a dark and cloudy sky. In a detail of the work recalling the widespread taste for trompe l’oeil, the painter seems to want to demonstrate his ability: two flies resting high up on the canvas, almost as if urging the viewer to whisk them away with their hand.
Reni’s conversance with the landscape was previously practically unknown.
It is not mentioned in the sources, where his trials in the major genres, with an elevated and ideal tone, emerge. The painter devoted himself to this genre – soon to be abandoned – during the first few years of his stay in Rome. The construction of a painting like the Country Dance is still based on the Bolognese culture of the Carracci, in particular Annibale’s, and echoes of Nicolò dell’Abate’s landscapes, dating it to 1601-02.
This important landscape painting thus contributes to our knowledge of Reni’s artistic path and different fields of experimentation with regard to the way in which their development and fortune were followed by the collector’s eye and interest of his patron.
As soon as possible after its arrival – in accordance with the decisions on the reopening of museums – the painting will be presented to the public, accompanied by initiatives elucidating its origin and its place in the context of Rome in the early 17th century.
