Antonio CIOCI (Active in Florence between 1762 and 1792) - Lot 126

Antonio CIOCI (Active in Florence between 1762 and 1792) Trompe l'oeil: the artist's studio Paper mounted on canvas Height: 46.5 cm Width: 36 cm Old restorations Provenance : Lodi Collection, Campione d'Italia (according to Salerno and Zeri) ; Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, April 6, 2006, no. 61 ; Galerie Didier Aaron & Cie. Exhibition: Natura Morta Italiana, Berlin, Gemäldegalerie Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, September 6 - 27 October 1985, no. 81, reproduced. Bibliography: L. Salerno, Still life painting in Italie, Rome, 1984, quoted p. 383, reproduced fig. 119.4 ; F. Zeri, La natura morta in Italia, Milan, 1989, vol. II, reproduced fig. 720. Antonio Cioci is recognized as Florence's greatest trompe-l'oeil artist of the 18th century. Attached to the court of the Grand Duke, he received numerous commissions as decorator of prestigious villas (Poggio Imperiale and the Tana villa in Candeli). He was also an engraver, master of ceremonies and designer of tables inlaid with semi-precious stones. He was appointed director of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in 1770. This composition features the painter's tools, carelessly arranged on an entablature. In the background, several paintings, drawings and engravings are nailed to the wainscoting of the studio. The landscape depicted remains unidentified to this day. On the other hand, the medallion hanging above can be found on the Still Life with Self-Portrait in the Uffizi. This "painting-within-a-painting" staging allows Cioci to multiply the representation space, demonstrating his great technical mastery of perspective. The woodland snail shell and the pearly mussel shell in the foreground evoke his talent for compositions in hard stone, motifs that are frequently repeated in his creations. Executed around 1787, our painting can be compared with Nature morte au panier (signed and dated 1789), formerly in the Busiri Vici collection, as well as with two other representations of artists' studios, Nature morte à l'Autoportrait (from the Uffizi Museum) and Atelier d'artiste (sold at Sotheby's on December 6, 1989). These works share the same warm, luminous color palette and feature similar objects, notably the bowl.