Author
Giovanni Martinelli
Biography
(Montevarchi 1600 - Florence 1659)
Date
Half 17th century
Technique
Oil on canvas
Size
72 x 58 cm
Audioguide
Description:
Giovanni Martinelli was an enigmatic figure of the seventeenth century and a successful painter in the depiction of the allegorical genre of which the painting in the Luzzetti collection is a splendid example.
The painter worked in Grosseto on the decoration of the Church of San Leonardo, which was demolished in 1844 to make way for the Church of the Misericordia.
Our work is one of Martinelli's many painted allegories and finds direct comparison with another of the same name in the Corsini collection in Florence. Here, too, the maiden emerges from the dark background as was the practice at the time and, with a languid gaze turned toward the viewer, shows the flute in her hands - a musical instrument that has, in many allegorical depictions, a veiled sexual implication and a reminder of the voluptuousness of youth.