MOLA, Pier Francesco

The depiction of the personification of Geography is based in part on the iconographic tradition established by Cesare Ripa in his Iconologia (Rome, 1593).

The foreground is dominated by the massive figure of a turbaned Turk who has fallen asleep on the steps of a classical marble fountain. The darkened trees in the distance and the deep shadows on all sides suggest that the scene takes place under the light of a brightly shining moon. Dimly glimpsed on the ledge next to the Turk’s shoulder is a tortoise, whose presence provides the key to the painting’s subject.

The scale of this large canvas is rare for the artist, as is the depiction of figures in almost life-size proportions. While his earlier works displayed an inclination toward the sensitive depiction of landscape, upon his arrival in Rome in 1647, Mola absorbed the influence of Guercino and artists such as Nicolas R�gnier and Orazio Riminaldi working in the wake of Caravaggio, whose compositions gave greater prominence to the representation of figures.

Figures lying in a landscape in a strong diagonal is a characteristic element of Mola’s work and is a pictorial adaptation of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s work.

This painting is also known as Barbary Pirate. It bears witness to the infatuation for the Orient revived at the time by the conflict between Venice and Turkey (1645-56).

The sitter is most probably the artist’s father, Giovan Battista Mola who himself was an architect. It appears as if the artist has portrayed his father as a biblical figure or a philosopher. The painting reveals the influence of Guercino on Mola’s style.

This picture is unique among Mola’s surviving works as a painting on marble. At the time when this painting was executed, Mola was looking to his contemporaries (e. g. Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione) and absorbing their influence.

Some experts attribute this painting to Valentin de Boulogne.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 21 minutes):

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Missa Brevis (Tu es Petrus)

The influence of Titian can be observed in this painting representing the penitent saint with his lion.

In this painting, the little satyr is shown in profile, sucking divine nectar from a low-set, open barrel, against an evening landscape. The painting can be considered as part of a Neo-Venetian movement that evolved in Rome between 1625 and 1635-1640, stimulated by the presence of the Bacchanals by Titian, originally in the collection of Alfonso I d’Este but which were brought to Rome in 1598.