Carlo Antonio PISSARI (1720 ca.-1780) - Lot 5

Carlo Antonio PISSARI (1720 ca.-1780) Ceres in search of her daughter Proserpine (after Ludovico Carracci). Sanguine on paper pasted on framing board. A collection mark in ink, in a shield, is visible on Ceres' thigh. Drawing: 31.5 x 19.7 cm. Cardboard: 44.5 x 33 cm (small loss in upper right corner). This sanguine was used by the Italian painter and engraver Pissari as a preparatory drawing for his engraving entitled "Cerere in traccia alla figliuola rapita", based on the fresco by Ludovico Carracci (1555-1619) in the Palazzo Sampieri Talon in Bologna (Italy). The engraving, in the opposite direction to the drawing, has the same dimensions. The drawing has two rectangular cut-outs at the top right and left, to respect the framing of the original fresco, which are also found in reserve on the engraving. Ceres (Demeter in Greek mythology), Proserpine's mother, desperately searches the night by torchlight for her daughter, who has just been abducted by Pluto, the god of the underworld. The abduction is shown here at top left.