Attributed to Donato Creti

From the soft and delicate modeling of the figures and the graceful coloration, this sweet depiction of putti in the guise of sacred and profane love bears the hallmarks of it being from the youthful career of Donati Creti, one of the most poetic painters of the Bolognese School. Here, the young Creti appears to draw some inspiration from the works of fellow Bolognese artist, Giovanni Antonio Burrini, whom the younger artist greatly admired. Take, for example, the elder artist’s cupid in his Diana and Endymion of about 1680-1690, today in the City Art Gallery in York (fig. 1),¹ or Burrini's frolicking and colorful cherubs painted as part of a series of frescoes in the Palazzo Ratta probably painted in about 1677-1680.²  Comparisons can also be drawn to the Burrini's frescoed putti in the Palazzo Comunale in Bologna, in particular those found within the scene of the Allegory of Good Government.³

1.  E. Riccòmini, Giovanni Antonio Burrini, Bologna 1999, pp. 184-185, cat. no 19, reproduced fig. 34. 

2. Riccòmini 1999, pp. 162-165, cat. no 7d, reproduced figs. 10, 11, 12, 13. 

3. Riccòmini 1999, pp. 202-206, cat. no. 35a, reproduced fig. 67.