Lot 15
S. COSTANTINI (19TH CENTURY) AFTER Guido Reni (1575-1642)
Lot 15 Details
S. COSTANTINI (19TH CENTURY) AFTER Guido Reni (1575-1642), Italian
BEATRICE CENCI IN PRAYER IN PRISON BEING SKETCHED BY GUIDO RENI (CIRCA 1662)
Oil on canvas; signed “S. Costantini” lower left
39" x 53" — 99.1 x 134.6 cm.
Estimate $1,000-$1,500
Additional Images
Provenance:
Framed by J. Frank Raw, 67 Adelaide Street East, Toronto, early 20th Century, his woodcut framer’s label verso;
Estate Collection, Toronto
Note:
This composition depicts the circa 1662 portrait associated with Beatrice Cenci and attributed to Reni, now in the National Gallery of Ancient Art (Rome, Italy).
For crimes related to parricide, Beatrice Cenci was condemned to death by Pope Clement VIII and was beheaded on 11 September 1599.
The Roman noblewoman is now associated in history and literature as a victim of the corruption in the Roman Renaissance. Her absorbing narrative aroused public sympathy and she became the heroine for many of poems, dramas, and novels.