GIORGIO DE CHIRICO | Puritani e Centauro in riva al mare (Puritan and Centaur by the Sea)

Private Collection (acquired circa 1935)
Helen Hayes & James McArthur (by descent from the above; sale: Christie's, New York, 9th May 2013, lot 320)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco, I Bagni Misteriosi: De Chirico negli anni Trenta: Parigi, Italia, New York, Milan, 1991, n.n., illustrated p. 178 
Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco, I Bagni Misteriosi: De Chirico negli anni Trenta: Parigi, Italia, New York, Milan, 1995, no. 12, illustrated p. 204
Claudio Bruni Sakraischik, Catalogo Generale Giorgio de Chirico, Opere dal 1912 al 1976, Milan, 2014, vol. I, no. 113, illustrated n.p.

The canvas is lined. Examination under UV light reveals three spots of retouching to the sky, the largest of which is approx. 2.5cm in diameter, and some retouching along the upper edge and the upper part of the left edge, consistent with previous frame rubbing. There are pinholes to the lower left and lower right corners. There is some pigment shrinkage throughout the composition and some flecks of pigment loss to the extreme edges. This work is in overall good condition.
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Having established himself on the international stage with his extraordinary Metaphysical paintings of the 1910s, in the 1919 issue of Valori Plastici, a publication that had previously been a platform for the practitioners of Metaphysical art, Giorgio de Chirico declared a new allegiance: ‘My own conscience is quite clear, and I am the bearer of three words which I wish to be the seal of all my work: “Pictor classicus sum”’ (quoted in El siglo de Giorgio de Chirico (exhibition catalogue), Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia, 2007, p. 526).  Following his return to Italy after the First World War, de Chirico - stimulated in part by the great museums of Florence and Rome - began to align himself with the wider artistic ‘return to order’ that prevailed in post-war Europe. De Chirico began to develop a distinctly new style illustrating the Classical subjects of ancient ruins, gladiators and horses that would go on to define his paintings of the 1920s and 1930s. This development in representation was widely criticised by the Surrealists who had been so influenced by the curious dream-like quality of de Chirico’s earlier Metaphysical works and now felt betrayed by his return to the seemingly more rational and ordered Classical world. However, whilst the works that followed this shift articulated a new direction, they maintained something of both the distinctive visual language that characterised de Chirico’s earlier works and the Metaphysical spirit of existing within their own unique place and time. In 1932 de Chirico began a new project of designing costumes and set pieces for the re-staging of Bellini’s opera I Puritani which was performed the following year at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. This enterprise proved to be of fundamental importance for the renewal of de Chirico’s pictorial work and influential in the continued development of his Classical painting style. Appearing in a number of paintings from the period, including the present work, colourful costumes decorated with geometric elements and various serpentine graphic ornaments are derived from the Florentine staging of I Puritani. Connected in many ways to his series of representation of gladiators, the spectacle of the performative aspects of the battle, much like those that took place on the stage, supplied de Chirico with material to create dynamic compositions. Puritani e Centauro in riva al mare is a striking example of the artist’s return to classicism and contains many elements of his distinctive visual catalogue: the equine figure of the centaur with his flowing tail that sweeps the ground, opening like a fan, is characteristic of de Chirico’s representation of horses, along with the seaside setting and the fragmented antique column which gives the scene a Classical air.



The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico.