The art literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly concerning Italian authors, remembers Genoa as one of the cities where Rubens stayed the longest during his eight Italian years. This assumption is not reflected in the archival documentation, so the passages of the Flemish painter in the Ligurian land are reconstructed through indirect information. Thanks to several documents found in the State Archive of Mantua, the circumstances of at least two possible Ligurian stays are clarified: the first one took place in 1605, during which Rubens was in contact with Maria Doria, mother of Brigida Spinola, to whom he dedicated the famous portrait (signed and dated 1606) preserved at the National Gallery in Washington; the second one concerns the likely journey undertaken to accompany Vincenzo I Gonzaga, of which the new archival documentation details the chronological context and the planned stages.
La letteratura artistica del XVII e del XVIII secolo, in particolare riguardante gli autori italiani, ricorda Genova come una delle città dove Rubens soggiornò più lungamente durante i suoi otto anni italiani. Questo assunto non trova riscontro nella documentazione archivistica, per cui è necessario ricostruire tramite informazioni indirette i passaggi del pittore fiammingo in terra Ligure. Grazie ad alcuni documenti ritrovati presso l’Archivio di Stato di Mantova, si puntualizzano le circostanze di almeno due possibili soggiorni liguri: uno avvenuto nel 1605, nel quale Rubens stette a contatto con Maria Doria, madre di Brigida Spinola cui dedicò il celebre ritratto (firmato e datato l’anno successivo) conservato presso la National Gallery di Washington; il secondo riguarda il verosimile viaggio intrapreso per accompagnare Vincenzo I Gonzaga, del quale la nuova documentazione archivistica circostanzia l’ambito cronologico e le tappe previste.
Rubens, courtier of Vincenzo Gonzaga: clarifications about his stays in Genoa.
Cecilia Paolini
2024-01-01
Abstract
The art literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly concerning Italian authors, remembers Genoa as one of the cities where Rubens stayed the longest during his eight Italian years. This assumption is not reflected in the archival documentation, so the passages of the Flemish painter in the Ligurian land are reconstructed through indirect information. Thanks to several documents found in the State Archive of Mantua, the circumstances of at least two possible Ligurian stays are clarified: the first one took place in 1605, during which Rubens was in contact with Maria Doria, mother of Brigida Spinola, to whom he dedicated the famous portrait (signed and dated 1606) preserved at the National Gallery in Washington; the second one concerns the likely journey undertaken to accompany Vincenzo I Gonzaga, of which the new archival documentation details the chronological context and the planned stages.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
