Carlo Cignani (; 15 May 1628 – 8 September 1719) was an Italian painter. His innovative style, referred to as his 'new manner', introduced a reflective, intimate mood of painting and presaged the later pictures of Guido Reni and Guercino, as well as those of Simone Cantarini. This gentle manner marked a break with the more energetic style of earlier Bolognese classicism of the Bolognese School of painting.

Life

He was born to a family of noble ancestry, but limited resources, in Bologna. His father's first name was Pompeo, and his mother, Maddalena Quaini.

thumb|332x332px|Madonna and Child

In Bologna, he studied first under Battista Cairo and later under Francesco Albani, to whom he remained closely allied, and was his most famous disciple. His first noted commission was a St Paul exorcising demon for the church of the Gesu in Bologna. For a hall dedicated to the Farnese in the Palazzo Publico, he painted with Taruffi, depicting the Francis, king of France, curing Scrofula on his entry to Bologna and the Entry of Paul III Farnese to Bologna.

He was also strongly influenced by the genius of Correggio and by the masterworks by Melozzo da Forlì. For instance, his masterpiece, the Assumption of the Virgin, around the cupola of the church of the Madonna del Fuoco at Forlì, is inspired by the Correggio's frescoes in the cupola of the Cathedral of Parma and by the Melozzo's perspective from down to up. These frescoes occupied Cignani for some twenty years. and Sante Vandi.

Selected works

  • Penitent Magdalen, Dulwich Picture Gallery [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929051120/http://dulwich-ke-ext.atticmedia.com/web/pages/common/imagedisplay.php?irn=977&reftable=ecatalogue&refirn=184]
  • Joseph and Potiphar's Wife (c. 1680), Oil on canvas, 99 x 99 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
  • Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, Musee Fesch, Ajaccio [http://www.musee-fesch.com/html/collection_permanente/collection/english/central_northern_italy.html]
  • Charity Oil on canvas, 119.4 x 161.3 cm, San Francisco Museum of Art[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092322/http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=Cignani&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=1&position=2&record=64218]
  • I piaceri della vita in campagna [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311130422/http://www.italica.rai.it/index.php?categoria=arte&scheda=ariccia_cignani&lingua=ita]
  • Judgement of Paris (1691), Oil on canvas, 130.5 x 161 cm, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060210102945/http://alcoleaantiguedades.com/pa.cignani.htm]
  • Aurora, Circolo della Scranna, Forlì [https://web.archive.org/web/20071008115600/http://www.circolodellascranna.it/opere.htm]
  • Incoronazione di Santa Rosa (Coronation of Saint Rose of Lima), Oil on canvas, Forlì, Pinacoteca Civica
  • Self-portrait, Oil on canvas, Forlì, Pinacoteca Civica
  • With Felice Cignani, La Vergine e San Filippo Neri (The Virgin and Saint Philip Neri), Oil on canvas, Forlì, Pinacoteca Civica.

<gallery>

File:Château de Chantilly, Carlo Cignani, Madonna and Child.JPG|Madonna and Child, circa 1680

File:Moïse sauvé des eaux Nancy 3018.jpg|The Finding of Moses, Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy

File:Carlo Cignani - Saint Augustine - M.Ob.1102 - National Museum in Warsaw.jpg|Saint Augustine

File:San Giovannino e l'agnello - Carlo Cignani.jpg|Saint John and the Lamb

File:Cignani, Carlo - The Penitent Magdalen - Google Art Project.jpg|Penitent Magdalen, circa 1685–90

</gallery>

References

  • , and engraving by William Ensom for The Easter Gift, 1832, with a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon