Guido Reni (Italian, 1575–1642), Saint Jerome, circa 1610. h : 25.6 x w: 19.8 in / h: 65 x w: 50.3 cm.  Courtesy Didier Aaron, Inc.

After last year’s highly successful exhibition on the Master of the Blue Jeans, Didier Aaron, Inc. in New York will host an exhibition presented by Galerie Canesso from Paris, A Selection of 16th and 17th Century Bolognese Paintings.

On this occasion an exceptional rediscovery will be unveiled: Saint Jerome repenting by Guido Reni (1575-1642), belonging to Reni’s early works.

Another important highlight is Rinaldo’s Farewell to Armida by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647), made in Rome for Cardinal Giacomo Sannesi (c.1557-1621), also patron of Guido Reni. The composition, signed and dated 1614, is fundamental for the reconstruction of the artist’s early oeuvre.

Giovanni Lanfranco (Italian, 1582–1647), Rinaldo’s Farewell to Armida. Oil on canvas. h: 43 x w: 70 in / h: 109.2 x w: 177.8 cm. Signed and dated on the hull of the ship: IOA.S LANFRANCUS PARM/1614.  Courtesy Didier Aaron, Inc.

An impressive painting on panel is the (erotic) Cleopatra by a northern artist active in Bologna, Denys Calvaert (c. 1540 – 1619). The dynamic pose and its fine Mannerist balance give the figure its surging motion, presumably provoked by the reaction to the bite of the asp.

Denys Calvaert (Flemish, 1540–1619), Oil on wood panel. h: 15.9 x w: 42.9 in / h: 40.4 x w: 109 cm.  Courtesy Didier Aaron, Inc.

From Mastelletta (1575-1655) we exhibit the ‘Fete champetre’ by a Riverbank . We should remember that he was trained in the Carracci school, where he was a friend of Guido Reni, his exact contemporary. His style was influenced by the most atypical Mannerist painters and his oeuvre was one of the last expressions of “European Mannerism.”

Giovanni Andrea (il Mastelletta) Donducci ((Italian, 1575–1655)), Fete champetre by a Riverbank, circa 1610. Oil on canvas . h: 39 x w: 47.4 in / h: 99.1 x w: 120.4 cm.  Courtesy Didier Aaron, Inc.

Signed and dated 1708, The Combat of Aeneas and Turnus is a landmark painting in the early career of the Bolognese artist Aureliano Milani (1675-1749). He develops an original neo-Mannerist style that reveals his close study of the Carracci frescoes in the Palazzo Fava and Palazzo Magnani.

Aureliano Milani (Italian, 1675–1749), The Combat of Aeneas and Turnus. Oil on canvas. h: 67 x w: 52 in / h: 170.2 x w: 132.1 cm. Signed and dated : AURELIANO MILANI. M.DCCVIII at center right on the temple pediment. Courtesy Didier Aaron, Inc.

A second Canesso exhibition, A Selection of Paintings, will feature artists such as Simone Peterzano (c. 1535 – 1599), the first lombard Master of Caravaggio, with an Angelica and Medoro, a rare and important painting of this artist. The exhibition also includes a newly discovered Portrait of a man by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli (c. 1500-1569) and a Portrait of Isotta Brembati by Giovan Battista Moroni (1525-1578).

Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli (Italian, 1500–1569), Portrait of a Man, circa 1540-1545. Oil on canvas. h: 32.2 x w: 25.8 in / h: 81.8 x w: 65.5 cm.  Courtesy Didier Aaron, Inc.

The Galerie Canesso was founded in 1994 in Paris by Maurizio Canesso, an active participant in the Old Master world since 1980. The gallery is exclusively devoted to paintings of the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries by Italian painters and foreigners living in Italy. The choice of available works, mostly unpublished, tends toward paintings with religious or mythological themes, but the gallery also offers portraits, still lives and landscapes. Galerie Canesso organizes onsite exhibitions accompanied by catalogues edited by its staff. Moreover, it participates in two prestigious art fairs: the TEFAF in Maastricht and the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris.

Simone Peterzano  (Italian, 1540–1596). Angelica and Medoro, circa 1570-1572. Oil on canvas. h: 61 x w: 76.4 in / h: 154.9 x w: 194.1 cm. Courtesy Didier Aaron, Inc.