Corrado Giaquinto

This exceptionally well-preserved Allegory of Asia forms part of a set of Four Continents painted by one of Italy’s leading rococo artists, Corrado Giaquinto. The other works from the set include an Allegory of America and an Allegory of Europe, both today in the Musée du Nouveau Monde, La Rochelle, France, and an Allegory of Africa, which was sold in these rooms in July 2022.¹ The series can be dated to Giaquinto’s mature period, circa 1744–46, when the artist was working predominantly in Rome and prior to his departure for Madrid to work for Ferdinand VI from 1753 until 1761.

Each of the paintings from the set of Four Continents are of almost identical dimensions and are cohesive compositionally and stylistically. The scenes are dominated by allegorical female figures bearing their respective attributes, attended by putti, with animals and various objects, placed within landscape settings. In the Allegory of Asia the elegant female figure holds aloft an incense burner with putti on the left watering two camels and an assortment of precious objects in the lower right corner. The Allegory of Africa shows a black female figure with a bow and quiver of arrows, holding a cornucopia with wheat, flanked by putti and a dragon and lion, with elephants in the distance. In the Allegory of Europe a crowned female figure gestures with her right hand towards the holy scriptures, a papal tiara and the keys of Saint Peter with the Holy Dove above, whilst in her left hand she holds a royal sceptre. At her side are a crown, a cuirass and other arms and she is accompanied by putti and a horse. In the Allegory of America the continent is represented by a female figure wearing an indigenous head-dress of feathers and a quiver of arrows as she holds in her right hand a spear. Perched beside her is a hyacinth macaw, with putti playing with a scarlet macaw below and two captive figures to her right.

After beginning his career in Molfetta (near Bari) and Naples, Giaquinto moved to Rome where he was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca in 1740. It was during the 1730s and ’40s, prior to the artist's departure for Spain in 1753, that Giaquinto was at his most productive. His style shows the influence of Carlo Maratta and Sebastiano Conca, whose works he was able to study in Rome, and his paintings are characterised by their colourful palette and elegant Rococo forms as perfectly exemplified by the present scene.

It is unclear when Giaquinto’s set of Four Continents was divided. The two in the Musée du Nouveau Monde are listed as having been with Galerie Pardo, Paris and were acquired by the museum in 1982. They are published by Mario d’Orsi (see under Literature), who dates them to about 1744–46, a likely date of execution for the Allegory of Africa and the present Allegory of Asia.

¹ Amato 1985, p. 83, nos 14–15, reproduced figs 17 and 18; Sotheby's, London, 7 July 2022, lot 191.