Prometheus stealing Fire from the Chariot of the Sun
attributed to Giovanni Maria Bottalla (Savona 1613 - Milan 1644)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1629 - 1669
Materials
Distemper on canvas
Measurements
3658 x 724 mm (144 x 28 1/2 in)
Place of origin
Bologna
Order this imageCollection
Kingston Lacy Estate, Dorset
NT 1257080.1
Caption
Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give to mankind. He is holding a torch defiantly in the sky and looking up heavenwards at the Chariot of the Sun. A male nude, with his back to us, sitting on Earth, awaits being restored to life. Prometheus was later punished by Jupiter by being chained to a rock and having his liver (which renewed each day) torn out by an eagle. Bottalla studied painting in Rome and one of his patrons there gave him the flattering nickname of il Raffaellino (little Raphael). He moved to Genoa in the early 1640s and began work on monochrome frescoes in the Palazzo Ayrolo Negrone but died before finishing them. According to records, this series, painted in oil and distemper, known in Genoa as succhi d’erbe (juices of plants) in order to look like a tapestry, was bought for Kingston Lacy from a Palazzo Cambiaso in Genoa by William Bankes (1786–1855) as by Annibale Carracci, and he regarded them as his finest acquisitions.
Summary
Distemper on herringbone canvas (which creates the effect of a tapestry (they are headed under such in the 1860 KL inventory). The name for such imitations in Genoa is succhi d’erbe (‘juices of plants’), later examples of which are in the Palazzo Reale), Prometheus stealing Fire from the Chariot of the Sun, attributed to Giovanni Maria Bottalla (il Raffaellino) (Savona 1613 - Milan 1644). Prometheus, holding a torch, in the sky, looks up at the Chariot of the Sun; on Earth, a male nude (representing Mankind, to whom Prometheus restored fire), sits with his back to us. Prometheus stole fire from the Gods in order to give to mankind, and was punished by Jupiter, being chained to a rock and having his liver (which renewed each day) torn out by an eagle.
Provenance
acquired by William John Bankes, before 1844, from Palazzo Cambiaso, Genoa; bequeathed by Ralph Bankes (1902 – 1981) to the National Trust, together with the estates of Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacy and its entire contents in 1981
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: PROMETHEUS / ANNIBALE CARRACCI (painted in black on fixed gilt label, on wall below the hanging) Verso: on the reverse of the moulding securing one of the hangings to the wall (not stated which – see Conserv.Hist.) is an inscription reading “refixed June 1931 by W. Hatushon [? The same inscription, now almost illegible appears to be on the stretcher.]
Makers and roles
attributed to Giovanni Maria Bottalla (Savona 1613 - Milan 1644), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Annibale Carracci (Bologna 1560 - Rome 1609), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Italian (Bolognese) School, artist