At the time of its purchase, Pérez Sánchez mooted that this interesting canvas belonged to the Neapolitan School of Painting. He identified it as an allegory of summer – personified by Ceres, holding a sheaf of grain – and surmised that it was most likely part of a series on the Four Seasons [1].

The artist has been identified as Astolfo Petrazzi from Siena, by comparing the canvas with Summer from the Monte dei Paschi di Siena collection, a work that Petrazzi is known to have produced under commission from Agostino Chigi, the governor of Santa Maria della Scala Hospital in Siena. Summer and the paintings of the other seasons were in the main room of his country villa in 1644, as recorded in the inventory of Chigi’s estate drawn up in that year [2]. The composition, with the figure on one side and the still life on the other, is very typical of Petrazzi, as is the portrayal of the putti and of the young woman, whose headpiece is actually repeated in the Spanish painting.

Other relevant comparisons can be made with The Lute Player in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena [3] and with Spring, which along with Winter (both in a private collection) were part of another cycle featuring the seasons [4]. Sources refer to extensive production of genre painting at the artist’s studio, particularly of kitchen interiors, and mention at least five series of the seasons [5]. The work in question could belong to one of them.

As regards its timeline, Ciampolini places Spring and Winter in the 1620s and argues that the Summer from the Monte dei Paschi di Siena collection shows more developed stylistic traits [6]. Bonelli dated the work to 1644, without any further explanation [7] and Avanzati placed Winter in the 1640s or 1650s [8]. Its similarities with the Banco de España work indicate that the latter could be also dated at around that time.

There are no known documentary records of Petrazzi’s presence in Siena between 1619 and 1629, but a work for the city such as the Fall of St. Paul, dated in 1621, is proof of his awareness of Caravaggio’s painting [9]. There is documentary proof that Petrazzi was in Rome by 1619 and that in around 1622 he painted Maddalena in Gloria for the Capponi Chapel of the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini; two years later he produced the Coronation of Pope Urban VIII, the whereabouts of which are currently unknown and which was part of an important series by Tuscan artists including Giovanni Da San Giovanni, Ciarpi and Ciampelli [10].

As has been often noted, Petrazzi must have moved in the artistic circle of the Crescenzi, and in particular attended Giovanni Battista’s academy of naturalist painting, frequented by artists including Mao Salini, Cavarozzi and Pietro Paolo Bonzi, where discovered Caravaggio-esque still-lifes [11]. In 1626 he took part in a meeting of the San Lucas Academy, along with painters such as Vouet, Riminaldi, Baglione and Bigot [12]. Echoing Anna Maria Emmanuele, Ciampolini explains that the meeting was held at the house of Jacopo Crescenzi, in the San Eustaquio rione district of Rome, whose church of the same name was under the patronage of the family and for whom Petrazzi painted a work [13]. The influence of the Crescenzi academy is clear in the compositions of his still-lifes. He was considered to be the undisputed master of that genre in Siena, even ahead of Rutilio Manetti, as can be seen in a letter from the city’s governor, Mattias de Medici, to his brother Giovan Carlo in 1630 [14].

The critic noted that other artists were also involved in producing still-lifes. The figures may show the typical traits of the master, but the depiction of the objects is variable and shows the participation of other artists, including foreign contributors [15]. In this case, the landscape has been painted rather more heavily than in the master’s other allegories. That leads us to believe that artists in his atelier contributed to it and to the rather unconvincing animals in the centre of the composition. As regards the remarkable still-life, and comparing it to the Summer of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the execution in the Spanish painting is visually superior, with a more notable chiaroscuro, as can be seen in the painting of the lilies and the petals of the other flowers. This points to their being the work of another artist, but it has so far not been possible to determine whether or not it was Petrazzi. 

[1] Pérez Sánchez 1985, p.14. Pérez Sánchez 1988, p.86

[2] Inven.101504, 95.4x158.6 cm. About the painting, purchased recently by the institution. Bonelli 2009, p. 58-62. Ciampolini 2010,II, p. 570. Bonelli 2011, p.112

[3] In this regard, Avanzati dates it in the 1620s, Avanzati 2005, pp. ccxvii-ccxviii. Ciampolini 2010 II, p.585

[4] As Ciampolini has pointed out, the same coat-of-arms appears in both and is not similar to that of the Chigi, so it may not belong to the series commissioned by Agostino. Ciampolini 2010, II, p.570

[5] Romagnoli ante 1835, IX, pp.675-697. Avanzati 2005, ccxv & ccxxiii. Ciampolini 2010, II, 595-599, 603

[6] Ciampolini 2010, II, pp.564-565 y 570. The Lute Player has also been dated to the 1620s, Avanzati 2005, p.ccxvii

[7] Bonelli 2010, pp.112-114

[8] And it should be noted that it can certainly be dated between 1628 (when Fabio Chigi recommended the artist to his uncle, Agostino Chigi, who commissioned the series) and 1644, when the inventory of his belongings was taken. Avanzati 2005, p.ccxxiii

[9] Avanzati 1987, p.64. Ciampolini 2010, II, p.564

[10] Avanzati 2005, pp.ccxx. Maccherini 1999, p.139. Ciampolini II pp.564

[11] Gregori 2003 p.37, 51. Avanzati 2005, ccxx. About the Crescenzi and their academy, see also  Del Val Moreno 201,  pp.132-136

[12] As regards Avanzati 2005, p.ccxx

[13] Ciampolini 2010, II, p.564

[14] Avanzati 2005, p.ccxvii.Ciampolini II 2010, p.564

[15] Ciampolini 2010, II, p.565

Gonzalo Redín Michaus

This Allegory of Summer was most probably originally part of a series on the four seasons, following a tradition of allegoric and decorative painting. As was usual from the Renaissance onwards, summer is personified by Ceres, the goddess of the grain that was harvested in that season. Ceres, who protected the land and made it land, is scantily dressed and is resting on the ground holding a large sheaf of wheat. There are also cherubs, a large collection of summer fruits and flowers arranged in a fundamentally decorative way. Cesare Ripa in his Iconologia, or Moral Emblems gave precise instructions regarding how summer should be depicted, which painters followed somewhat freely, given the broad repertoire of those representations: ‘The classical artists painted Summer, as Gregorio Giraldi says in his book on the deities, as Ceres decked as mother earth, with a sheaf of wheat ears and of poppies’.

The painting is difficult to classify, although it can be dated as from the mid-17^th century. It is probably an Italian work, and perhaps from Naples. Its unknown artist seems to have a greater talent for still-lifes than for depicting the human body.

Commentary updated by Carlos Martín.

Alfonso Pérez Sánchez