Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 95. (Budapest, 2001)

DOBOS, ZSUZSANNA: Two hitherto unknown paintings by Flaminio Torri

on to such Late Baroque painters as Giovan Gioseffo Dal Sole, Domenico Maria Canuti, Lorenzo Pasinelli and Giovanni Antonio Burrini, who coupled them with a new idiom. With this he helped to maintain the continuity of Bolognese painting. In spite of his significance, no monograph on Torri has been written to date, furthermore, at the exhibitions presenting Bolognese Baroque art he has never been in the limelight but has always been a subsidiary figure.

4 No wonder that Torri's art had so many sources, as he attended several renowned workshops of the age. His sense of plasticity and rich, luminous colours developed at the side of his first master, Giacomo Cavedone, a follower of Annibale and Lodovico Carracci. The ideal noviziato was followed by a brief apprenticeship in Reni's studio ending ingloriously. Although Reni appreciated his talent, he dismissed him for his idleness and lack of discipline."

1 Following the artist who "painted like an angel"

6

, Torri was captivated by the anti-Renian naturalism of Simone Cantarini, who spoke quite an individual language in 17

th century Bologna. He had a decisive impact on his forms, made his brushwork thicker, his light and shade effects stronger. Judging from his works, he was even fascinated by Cantarini's aristocratic "surrealistic" monochrome manner, so we can query the aptness of the 18

th century historiographer, Luigi Lanzi's remark: "...s'impossessö della maniera del Cantarini, lasciandone perö il color cinericcio..".

1 The above-mentioned impacts were complemented by a "gentil modo", "franca maniera", "bell'impasto" and "felice maneggio",

8 also praised by the contemporary biographer, Carlo Cesare Malvasia, so we can conclude that his art was one of the most intimate, explicitly naturalistic chapters of Bolognese High Baroque. Although he executed a couple of altarpieces as well, his finest achievements were his renditions of religious and secular themes with one or two figures, offering a possibility to capture the inner tensions of humans and lacking nearly all narrative and descriptive elements: his meditating Magdalens, tortured St Jeromes, St Francises and St Teresas collapsing in ecstasy and his full-blooded peasant and gypsy sibyls. These works, which had their appeal in their exotic taste besides their informality and suggestivity, must have been very popular among the collectors since more autograph versions of a particular composition have come down to us. The bulk of the seventy 4 The essential literature on Torri: Emiliani, A. et al., Maestri della pittura del XVII secolo emiliana, exh. cat., Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna 1957, 129-135; Raimondi, G., II pittore Flaminio Torri detto Flaminio degli Ancinclli, Studi in Onore di Matten Marangoni, Pisa 1957, 260-66; Colombi Ferretti, A. in L Arte degli Estensi, exh. cat., Galleria Estense, Modena 1977, 203-07; Roli, R., La pittura bolognese, Bologna 1977, 92-3; Colombi Ferretti, A., Bilancio su Flaminio Torre, Paragone 333 (1977 November) XXVIII., 8-28; Volpe, C, Ancora sul Torre, per una importante aggiunta./'aragiw 333 (1977 November) XXVIII., 28-36; Peruzzi, L. in La pittura in Italia. II Seicento 2, Milan 1988, 903; Caroli, F., Aggiunte a Flaminio Torre, Notizie da Palazzo Albani 2 (1989) XVIII., 61-63; Ambrosini Massari, A. M. in NegroPirondini op. cit. (note 2) 391-398. 5 Malvasia, C. C, Felsina Pittrice. Vite de pittori bolognesi 2, Bologna 1678, ed. Bologna 1841, 383. 6 Because of the ethereal beauty of his figures, both Giuseppe Cesari and Domenichino called Reni an angelic painter. 7 Lanzi, L., Storia pittorica della Italia 5, Bologna 1789, ed. Pisa 1816, 125. 8 Malvasia op. cit. (note 5) 384.