The ‘Ancient Paintings and Drawings’ exhibition held on 28th Nay 2008 at Christie’s auction house Milan, totaled 3.756.239 euros, with 87% of sales. For the first time, unpublished work by Giacomo Ceruti, also known as Pitocchetto, was presented. The extraordinary painting ‘Diana and the nymphs surprised by Actaeon’ was introduced to the public, with a quote of 200,000 to 300,000 euros and sold for 990.050 euros. The canvas depicts young hunter Actaeon chancing upon Diana and her companions bathing in a cave. Angered by his offence, Diana punishes the unwary hunter by turning him into a deer and setting her own hounds on him. Prior to WW2 “Diana and the nymphs surprised by Actaeon” was exhibited at Palazzo Arconati Visconti beside two other similarly-sized paintings, representing the same deity. The canvasses were probably commissioned by Marquises Calderana, who have owned the Palace since the late 18th century. The Arconati cycle hunting theme is set against a rural landscape and completed by other faunal inserts as it was common practice in the 1700s to decorate country houses and hunting lodges with scenes of hunters and hounds, still lives with game.
“This canvas is part of an important cycle. We hope some institution may help keep it in the city of Milan” says Marco Riccomini, director of the Ancient Paintings Department at Christie’s Italia.
This is an extraordinary painting with illustrious and well-documented origin, major size, mythological subject, a real rarity within the Lombard artist’s production. Most of Ceruti’s paintings are dominated by the research for natural detail and character. They are marked by a sober and determined style, where beggars (or ‘pitocchi’, hence his nickname) are made into imposing figures. Likewise, his genre scenes mirror reality devoid of idealization, by sketching everyman images: soldiers, peasants, laundresses and a variety of disinherited people. Pitocchetto, a major figure in 18th century painting scene, loved to portray folk subjects, especially the poor, whose identity he exposed. This was revolutionary at the time for the poor were not considered to be worthy an individual identity, but were generally perceived to be collectively drowning between past and future. At the peak of Rococò, Ceruti’s art went against the prevailing taste; yet, his fame and skills were such that he continued to be commissioned more and more paintings.
He worked between Lombardy and Veneto, particularly in the Brescia district, where he was influenced by pre-Enlightenment socio-cultural conditions, and drew upon old social tradition and folk painting. While falling within Lombard Caravagesque realism, his works show links to 17th century Europe: especially to the corpus of the Le Nain brothers - where poverty and hunger are countered by individual dignity and an overall Cosmic religious sentiment. He has also been related to Georges de la Tour, Northern European engravings and Spanish Siglo de oro painters, such as Velazquez.