The Fall of Lucifer
(Venice c. 1548 - 1628)
Recorded in the 1790 inventory, the work was initially ascribed to Tintoretto, but since the end of the 19th century attribution to Palma the Younger has been widely accepted by the critics. The scene shows God the Father banishing Lucifer and his followers from heaven. The composition is considered a preparatory sketch for a larger work. The fine state of preservation simplifies an interpretation of the painting, in which it is possible to note, in contrast to the depicted subject, the prevalence of paler tones.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
Classification
Period
Medium
Dimensions
Provenance
Rome, Borghese Collection, recorded in Inventory 1790, room III, n. 24; Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese 1833, p. 194. Purchased by Italian State, 1902.
Exhibitions
- 1951 Roma, Palazzo Barberini
- 2000 Bari, Castello Svevo
- 2000 Caen, Abbaye-aux-Dames
- 2007 Jackson, Mississipi Museum of Art
- 2010 Milano, Palazzo Reale
Conservation and Diagnostic
- 1936 Augusto Cecconi Principi
- 1950 Augusto Cecconi Principi
Commentary
The painting is first mentioned in the inventory of 1790 as a work by Jacopo Tintoretto, a reference that is also repeated in the Fideicommissary Inventory of 1833. The name of Palma the Younger was put forward by Piancastelli (1891) at the oral suggestion of Giovanni Morelli. This attribution was later accepted by Venturi (1893), Longhi (1928) and Scheffler (1949) and has never been challenged since.
Mason Rinaldi (1973) associated this work with a series of drawings held in the British Museum that, although not preparatory for the painting, can be related to the composition. Della Pergola (1955) hypothesised that it might be a preparatory sketch for a larger painting, about which we have no information. This suggestion was accepted by Mason Rinaldi (1984) in view of ‘a certain hastiness in the brushstroke and the rendering of the figures’ – a speed of execution that is certainly greater than in similar paintings such as the Last Judgement in the Doge’s Palace.
The Venetian painter recounts the story of Lucifer's fall with dramatic intensity, dividing the composition into two registers, the celestial and the terrestrial, separated by a dense layer of clouds. Suspended in a golden sky, God the Father, enveloped in light, triggers a swirling motion with his right arm to the army of angels, some of whom are depicted in strong foreshortening.
Elisa Martini
Bibliography
- G. Piancastelli, Catalogo dei quadri della Galleria Borghese, in Archivio Galleria Borghese, 1891, p. 49.
- A. Venturi, Il Museo e la Galleria Borghese, Roma 1893, p. 112.
- R. Longhi, Precisioni nelle Gallerie Italiane, I, La R. Galleria Borghese, Roma 1928, p. 194.
- A. De Rinaldis, La Galleria Borghese in Roma, Roma 1939, p. 53.
- K. Scheffler, Venezianische Malerei, Berlin 1949, p. 271.
- P. della Pergola, Itinerario della Galleria Borghese, Roma 1951, p. 45.
- P. della Pergola, La Galleria Borghese. I Dipinti, I, Roma 1955, pp. 125-126, n. 227.
- R. Longhi, Edizione delle opere complete. II. Saggi e ricerche 1925-1928, 2 voll., Firenze 1967, I, p. 341.
- L. Grassi, Il libro dei disegni di Jacopo Palma il Giovane all’Accademia di San Luca, Roma 1968, pp. XXI, XXXII-XXXIII.
- S. Mason Rinaldi, Il Libro dei disegni di Palma il Giovane del British Museum, in “Arte Veneta”, 27, 1973, p. 129.
- N. Ivanoff, P. Zampetti, Jacopo Negretti detto Palma il Giovane, in I pittori bergamaschi: dal XIII al XIX secolo. Il Cinquecento, III, Bergamo 1979, p. 554, n. 180.
- S. Mason Rinaldi, Palma il Giovane: l’opera completa, Milano 1984, pp. 106-107, fig. 558.
- K. Herrmann Fiore, Museo e Galleria Borghese. Roma scopre un tesoro. Dalla pinacoteca ai depositi un museo che non ha più segreti, San Giuliano Milanese 2006, p. 162.
- S. Salzani, in Anima del fuoco: da Eraclito a Tiziano, da Previati a Plessi, catalogo della mostra (Milano, Palazzo Reale, 6 marzo-6 giugno 2010), a cura di C.D. Fonseca, Milano 2010, fig. a p. 37.
- P. Moreno, C. Stefani, Galleria Borghese, presentazione di C. Strinati, introduzione di A. Costamagna, saggi di A. Coliva, K. Herrmann Fiore, P. Moreno, Milano, 2000, p. 205.
- G. Capozzi, in Le ali di Dio: messaggeri e guerrieri alati tra Oriente e Occidente, catalogo della mostra (Bari, Castello Svevo, 6 maggio-31 agosto 2000; Caen, Abbaye-aux-Dames 29 settembre-31 dicembre 2000), cura di M. Bussagli, M. D’Onofrio, Cinisello Balsamo (Milano) 2000, p. 208, n. 108.
- T. Castaldi, in Between god and man. Angels in Italian art, catalogo della mostra (Jackson, Mississippi Museum of Art 9 giugno-30 dicembre 2007), a cura di F. Buranelli, R.C. Dietrick, Jackson 2007, pp. 64-65.
