Giovan Giacomo Sementi

As one of Guido Reni's most accomplished pupils, Sementi actively worked and collaborated with his master in both Rome and his native Bologna, before settling in the former from 1630. The influence of both Roman and Bolognese schools can be observed in this painting; stylistic similarities can be drawn between the facial type of the woman on the far right with those of the figures in the Episode from ancient history (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid);¹ and the central female attendant in The Toilet of Venus, attributed to Guido Reni and Studio in the National Gallery, London.² The slate blue tones are also typical and can be seen in Joseph and Potiphar's Wife (Matthiesen and Newhouse Galleries, New York) and The Martyrdom of St Catherine (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna).³

A version to this composition, arguably of lesser quality, is in the collection of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Rome.⁴

We are grateful to Ian G. Kennedy for suggesting an attribution to Sementi on the basis of digital images and to all those consulted for their views.

¹ Oil on canvas, Fototeca Zeri, Fondazione Zeri, Bologna, no. 55289. Once tentatively attributed to Lucio Massari, this painting is now considered to be by Sementi; see E. Negro in La Scuola di Guido Reni, E. Negro and M. Pirondini (eds), Modena 1992, pp. 330 and 333 n. 36, reproduced in colour p. 342, fig. 327.

² Oil on canvas, 281.9 × 205.7 cm.; National Gallery, London, Inv. no. NG90.

³ E. Negro in Negro and Pirondini 1992, pp. 327–42, in particular figs 323 and 319.

⁴ https://www.cdp.it/sitointernet/en/arte_antica.page. Erroneously cataloged as a copy after Claude Lorrain.