Takács Imre – Buzási Enikő – Jávor Anna – Mikó Árpád szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve, Művészettörténeti tanulmányok Mojzer Miklós hatvanadik születésnapjára (MNG Budapest, 1991)
CZÉRE Andrea: Michele Rocca négy újonnan meghatározott képe
and, to use Gian Vittorio Castelnovi's words, also translated the biblical scenes into the often frivolous and coquettish language of the pastoral. 4 To the set of so-far known Rocca works, two cabinet pictures of mythological subject and two paintings showing putti in still-lifes of flowers and fruits are to be added now, with comments on the artistic roots and dating. Rocca's two earliest known pictures - the Stigmatization of St Francis dated 1695 (Rome, Chiesa di San Paolo alia Regola) and the Magdalene from 1698 (Rome, Chiesa della Maddalena ) 5 - suggest that at the age of 29 and 32 the artist of Parma still aligned with the Roman trends of his times. Unlike the pastoral cabinet pictures typical of Rocca, these two altarpieces root in the Maratti tradition, their idiom being interlaced with elements from Cortona and Trevisani. Nicola Pio, the author of a brief contemporary biography claims the painter was born in 1666, 6 which seems to be confirmed by other data as well. 7 At first he studied with Filippo Maria Galetti in Parma, then at the age of 16, in 1682 that is, he resumed his studies in Rome under Ciro Ferri. Soon he returned to Parma to study the masters of his birth town, followed by a longer sojourn in Rome. Scholars agree that the source of Rocca's intimate cabinet paintings can be traced back to Parma, especially to Correggio. 8 However, the small-sized parlour pictures must date from much later than the 1680s when he worked in Parma, for even a decade after this period the conclusions drawn from his Roman studies under Ciro Ferri were preponderant, for instance in the altarpieces mentioned above. Most probably his attention turned toward parlour pictures on biblical and mythological subjects after this period, in the first decades of the 18th century; that is when his themes and style must have changed. He must have found new sources of inspiration for the unfolding of his individual characteristics. As an indication of the recognition of his new approach, he became a member of the Virtuosi del Pantheon in 1710 and the Accademia di San Luca in 1719. Athough in Rome historical painting, the decoration of altars and palaces, were held in higher esteem in the period, and even in France parlour pictures became wide-spread only later, small-scale mythological or byblical pictures did have some tradition in Italy - mostly in Bologna, but also in Rome since Poussin. At the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century Arcadian themes - idylls of nymphs and amoretti - were painted by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, who continued a popular trend relying chiefly on the art of Francesco Abani. 9 Rocca had the chance to meet Crespi, who was one year his senior, in his youth since the Bolognese artist came to Parma on a study trip in 1688-89 when Rocca was also in Parma. 10 On the other hand, he could see Abani's pictures in Roman collections, e.g. the mythological tondi of the Galeria Borghese. 11 Crespi's small-sized Arcadian pictures show a semblance to some of Rocca's paintings including The Finding of Moses (New York, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, fig. 3) or The Toilet of Venus and Satyr with Nymphs Making Music, two pictures in a Hungarian private collection so far anonymous and here attributed to Rocca (figs. 1-2). Rocca's subdued colour harmony tending toward a deep blue also alludes to Bologna rather than to Parma. This circle of themes meant a short detour for Crespi, while it became the ultimate goal for Rocca to perfect the genre in the forthcoming decades, certainly upon stimulation from French painting as well. The Toilet of Venus and the Satyr with nymphs Making Music fit in with the series of Rocca's mythological paintings. Close to them are the Pearl-diver, Coral Fishing or Nymphs Picking Flowers in the museum of Prato. 13 In the latter pictures, however, the landscape is somewhat more reduced and the figures are shown in a closer perspective. At the same time, the Hungarian pictures are differentiated from the mythological works usually 30 x 40 cm in size by their larger dimensions (62,5 x 47 cm), darker hues and smoother brushstrokes; they are closer to the Finding of Moses in New York whose size is only about 10 cm smaller (fig. 3). In it the significance of the landscape and the relation between landscape and figures is the same. Their common origin is borne out by the similarity of composition, lighting, type of figures and their bodily forms, ass well as the manner of painting. A comparison of trees, foliage and draperies also convinces the observer of the identity of moulding and brush work. Variants of The Toilet of Venus are known from the painter's œuvre, 14 while the Satyr with nymphs Making Music is a variation on the theme which also inspired his Musical idyll in a Roman private collection (Paolo Rosa's collection) (fig. 5) 15 . The facial type of the nymph (fig. 6) crowning the satyr is identical with St Cecilia's, another Rocca painting in the Rosa collection. 16 The two pictures in Hungarian private collection signify the Emilian - mostly Bolognese - orientation in Rocca's art and may possibly be dated to 1710-20. No earlier date is probable because the conception and style of the pictures largely differ from those of the altarpieces of the 1690s, which bear the stamp of the cool and suave sentimentalism of the Maratti school and Trevisani. On the other hand, in the 1720s the artist was already wellknown for his cabinet pictures, as Pio's biography of 1724 reveals: „... giornalmente per signori romani e forastieri li va continuando con il suo vago e forte colore, con buone idee, e meglio componimenti, accompagnandovi anco nelle sue opere de'buoni paesi, per il che viene da molti ricercato... An even more precise date, 1721, is proposed for the two pictures of putti painted in still-lifes, now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, here attributed to Rocca on stylistic grounds (figs 7-8). Rocca only contributed to these paintings, whose major part is a large-scale still-life in the middle of which he had to paint three putti, in compliance with the practice of the age. The fruit compositions are by the hand of Maximilian Pfeiler, a German still-life painter, who signed and dated the verso of one of the two pictures: „Maximilian Pfeiler fecit Romae / Anno 1721". 18 Thus luckily Rocca's collaboration can also be dated. Though no document is known about the cooperation of Pfeiler and Rocca, it is reasonable to suppose it on account of certain circumstances beyond the evidence of style. Pfeiler worked with Trevisani around 1710-15, 19 and Rocca was also in
