MANCINI, Francesco - b. 1679 San Angelo in Vado, d. 1758 Roma - WGA

MANCINI, Francesco

(b. 1679 San Angelo in Vado, d. 1758 Roma)

Italian painter. He was trained in Bologna in the school of Carlo Cignani, and his art is rooted in the classicist tradition of Bologna and Emilia Romagna. His achievements can be measured not only by his official appointments (French Academician, 1732; associate and regent of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon, 1743, 1745; principal of the Accademia di S Luca, 1750-51) but also by the numerous commissions, almost exclusively ecclesiastical, that he obtained both in Rome and in the provinces. These made a significant contribution to the development of the form and iconography of the altarpiece. Mancini holds a remarkable position in the circle of artists working in the Papal States during the first half of the eighteenth century.

In 1714 he was summoned to work in Ravenna (in the library known as the Biblioteca di Classe), later in 1719 to the cathedral of Foligno, and in 1725 he moved to Rome. On his arrival in the papal city he was elected a member of the Academy of Saint Luke and executed several works including the Miracle of Saint Peter and Saint John in the Quirinal Palace and The Healing of Tabitha commissioned for St. Peter’s Basilica by Pope Benedict XIII (1724-50). Knowledge of Mancini’s profane works is rather more limited, and the best of these is the cycle of frescoes with the Stories of Psyche in the coffeehouse of the Palazzo Colonna (1735-40). The frescoes of the dome of the Chiesa Nuova dei Filippini in Perugia (1750), those of Our Lady of Mercy in Macerata (1756), and many other paintings bear evidence of his extensive activity in many churches in cities then belonging to the Papal States (Perugia, Citta di Castello, Fano, Forii, Rimini).

He studied the great models of Emilian seventeenth-century painting but went back still further, fascinated by Correggio’s mannerism. During the period he spent in Rome he was influenced by the works of Gaulli and Pietro da Cortona. The various experiences the artist absorbed resulted in painting that was far from academic, characterized rather by a compositional ease and agility of execution that create a vital synthesis of baroque and rococo motifs, enriched by recollections of the sixteenth century.

Legend of Psyche

The powerful Colonna family had lived on the western slope of the Quirinale in Rome since the Middle Ages. Over the years it managed to link together the various houses it had built and purchased over time into a unified ensemble of palaces, courtyards, and gardens. In the seventeenth century, the art-loving cardinal Girolamo I Colonna (1604-1666) began turning the complex into a Baroque residence. Construction began in 1650. The south wing, containing the Grande Galleria, was built between 1661 and 1700 at the behest of the cardinal’s nephew Lorenzo Onofrio (1637-1689).

Under the sons of Filippo II Colonna (1663-1714) more additions were made to the palace. A new wing was erected between 1730-33 by Nicola Michetti. Of this wing only the corner pavilion has survived unchanged, and in it is one of the loveliest interiors from the Roman Rococo. The room was also designed by Michetti. The square space, which is referred to as the Coffeehouse and was in fact used as a public caf� up to the 1930s, fits the type of the small pleasure house that became fashionable in the eighteenth century. On the ceiling, consisting of a circular centre panel framed by eight spandrels, Francesco Mancini illustrated the Legend of Psyche in 1733. The playful style of the painting is perfectly attuned to the character of the wall decorations, which supplement the painted program with stucco reliefs and niche figures.

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Rest during the Flight to Egypt

In The Rest During the Flight into Egypt the figures of the Virgin and child are harmoniously composed, the former holding a small bowl in her hand (inspired by Correggio’s Madonna della Scodella) with the child Jesus on her lap, turning toward Saint Joseph, who offers him some strawberries, the symbol of his human incarnation. Behind the holy family are the figures of three angels, two of whom make music (one is playing a flute, the other is singing) while the third holds a garland of flowers above the Virgin’s head. In the background appears an obelisk and some classical buildings that evoke a Roman landscape.

In this picture, the refined sensitivity of the artist is confirmed by the fineness of the painting: the Correggesque grace of the attitudes, the atmosphere of intimate familiarity, the softness of the modeling achieved with fluid brushwork that makes masterly use of shading, and a range of bright colors penetrated with light.

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