Cyparissus (Vignali) Explained

Cyparissus
Wikidata:Q97622818
Artist:Jacopo Vignali
Medium:oil painting on canvas
Movement:Baroque painting
Mythological painting
Subject:Cyparissus
Height Metric:123
Width Metric:163
Dimensions Ref:[1]
Metric Unit:cm
Imperial Unit:in
Museum:Musée des Beaux-Arts
City:Strasbourg
Accession:1994

Cyparissus is a 1620s Baroque painting on a mythological subject from Ovid's Metamorphoses by the Italian painter Jacopo Vignali. It is on display in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Strasbourg, France, to which it had been donated by the collectors Othon Kaufmann and François Schlageter in 1994. Its inventory number is 994-1-8,[2] or 44.994.1.8.[1]

The painting depicts the young Cyparissus, mourning his pet deer, that he had mistakenly killed with his own bow and arrow. The young boy's pain is amplified beyond the description given by Ovid, and possibly inspired by a 1624 Venetian edition of Giovanni Andrea dell' Anguillara's Metamorfosi ridotte in ottava rima, in which the tearful aspect of the story is emphasized.[1] It is one of the very few profane paintings by Vignali.[2]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Roy . Alain . De Giotto à Goya. Peintures italiennes et espagnoles du musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg . June 2017 . Musées de la ville de Strasbourg . 978-2-35125-151-5 . 190–191.
  2. Book: Jacquot . Dominique . Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg. Cinq siècles de peinture . 2006 . Musées de Strasbourg . Strasbourg . 2-901833-78-0 . 90–91.