Pier Francesco Mola
(1612 - 1666) |
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Frescos, Secular Narratives, Mythological Narratives Art Work
| Name: |
Pier Francesco Mola |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Coldrerio, Italy |
| Nationality: |
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| Birth: |
1612 |
| Death: |
1666 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Frescos, Secular Narratives, Mythological Narratives |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
Draftsman
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Biography
| Grouped with a small romantic circle active in Rome that included Salvator Rosa and Pietro Testa, Mola, to some scholars, falls just short of the first rank because of the uneven qualiity of his work. Arriving in Rome as a child (ca. 1616), Mola reportedly studied with Cavaliere d'Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari) around 1625. From 1633 (some early sources say 1635) to 1640 and 1641 to 1647, Mola was outside Rome working and studying. He must have been in Venice to study its painters; we know he was in Lucca in 1637 and in 1641 he was working in Coldrerio. He spent two years (most likely 1645 to 1647, some sources say 1644 to 1646) in Bologna as a pupil of Albani. After 1647 he settled in Rome, where he joined the Accademia di San Luca in 1655. Mola's earliest known commission involves his frescoes for the Confraternity of the Madonna del Carmelo at Coldrerio, for which the last payment was received in 1642. These ambitious frescoes with their life-sized figures portraying The Madonna of the Rosary reflect his absorption of Titian. His next important surviving commission, an altarpiece of The Image of St. Dominic Carried to Soriano by the Virgin, St. Catherine and Mary Magdalene, done in Rome for Sts. Domenicio and Sisto and completed in 1648, shows the lessons he learned from Albani. That classicizing tendency with its restrained emotion and carefully structured compositions was also maintained in his most important official commission. Between 1656 and 1657 he executed the fresco depicting Joseph and His Brethren for Pope Alexander VII at the Quirinai Palace. In 1658 he started frescoes for the Palazzo Pamphili at Valmontone, a project abruptly halted after he brought suit against Prince Don Camillo Pamphili in 1659 for nonpayment. Mola lost; his work was demolished and repainted by Mattia Preti* in 1661. A more idiosyncratic and romantic inclination is found in his easel pictures. The most famous of these is Barbary Pirate (dated 1650, Paris, Louvre), in which an intense and strangely heroic figure looms out of the canvas. Based on Guercino,* Ribera,* and Neapolitan painting, this picture is a unique contribution to the theme of exotic figures so popular at that time. Mola made less dramatic but nonetheless important contributions to the poetic landscape. His scenes of hermits in landscapes were eagerly collected by such patrons as the Chigi and the Marchese Costaguti and reached a dramatic level in masterpieces such as The Vision of St. Bruno (Rome, Incisa Collection). More quietly poetic themes, such as Bacchus and Ariadne (Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum; Wilton House, Salisbury, Wiltshire) or Erminia Tending the Wounded Tancred (San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum), are now regarded as among his most captivating creations. Elected president of the Accademia di San Luca in 1662, he remained in office until September 1663 when illness forced him to step down. Documents suggest continued activity as a painter, but by late 1665, after his father's death, Mola declined in health, dying in May 1666. Mola's official commissions can be traced through his father's publication, Roma, Vanno 1663 di Giovo. Battista Mola. |
Samples of Work
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