Study of a left hand

$8,000 price, unframed

Carlo Cavaliere Maratta was a painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He arrived in Rome in 1636 with his stepbrother Bernabó with whom he had first studied. Maratta subsequently studied with Andrea Sacchi and emulated his master in such works as the altarpiece in the cathedral of Montero Tondo of the Archangel Michael with saints. He took his inspiration from Alsani and Titian for the altar of the Parish of Camerana of the Madonna, Child and Saints.
Maratta was one of the last major Italian artists of the classical tradition that had originated with Raphael, and his pre-eminence among the artists of his time marks the triumph of classicism. Nonetheless his art unites the virtues of disegno and colore, and he created a grandiose and decorative style that also satisfied the demands of the Church. His works from 1650-1660 showed a classic idealism with inspiration from Lanfranchi, but with more dynamic composition as in his Flight from Egypt in the church of Saint Isidor, Agricola in Rome. His late works also had a grace and refinement that anticipated the development of the Rococo, and even Neo-classicism.
Maratta received numerous commissions from Alessandro VII, (Chigi pope 1655-1667) for whom he produced works with the decorative intent of late Baroque classicism. Maratta expressed himself with his drawings, and his great production made him (circa 1670) one of the most sought after artists in Rome. After 1680 Maratta became one of the most noted artists of the contemporary European culture. Besides his religious subjects, he painted portraits of such subjects as Pope Clement IX, which hang at the Vatican Museum and the Royal Museum in Brussels. Maratta also painted mythological subjects on behalf of private patrons, which have the characteristics of a new taste, anticipating the works of Mengs and the earliest neoclassicists.
His works are in museums in England, Germany, and much of Europe. This study of a hand is executed in red chalk. The hand is similar in pose and lighting from the left, to the hand of Christ in the Baptism of Christ in the Baptistery at Osimo Ancona, however the painting there is not securely documented to Maratta.