Giovanni Francesco Romanelli

Description

The present drawing features Thalia, the muse of comedy, with two theatrical masks at her feet. In ancient Greek, Thalia means “the joyful, the flourishing one”, which explains the playful mood of the young woman in the drawing who reveals herself by throwing off her draperies, like a theatre curtain rising at the beginning of a performance. The drawing is characteristic of Romanelli’s art. The artist executed many allegories during his career, in his ceiling decorations but also as independent works of art. In comparison, one can mention his painting Euterpe, muse of music, housed in the Galleria Pallavicini, Rome, and the preparatory drawing for that painting in the Real de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. Leaning against a tree, Euterpe is presented in a pose similar to that of Thalia. 

This drawing is a fine example of the composed, graceful, and powerful style of Romanelli, which offers a synthesis between the austerity of Poussin and the ardor of Bernini. The artist has a very distinct way of using chalk, which he applied in fine, precise, and restrained hatchings. The intensity of the red-orange drapery brings vigor and energy to the composition.