(Casalmaggiore 1661-Cremona 1722) Lot and His Daughters, pen and brown ink, over black chalk, grey wash, heightened with white bodycolour, on laid paper, 19,3 x 26,5 cm, an old inscription "Giuseppe Natali" in pen and brown ink on the reverse, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Giorgio Dalla Bella (born in 1923), Venice, Lugt 3774; an anonymous collector’s mark, Lugt 3539; private collection, Italy.

With a certificate of Prof. Emilio Negro (5th September 2003).

Giuseppe Natali, the son and pupil of Giovanni Battista, was strongly influenced by the classicism of the Roman Baroque and above all by Guido Reni und Pietro da Cortona. Natali sojourned in Rome where he got in touch with the culture of classicism. Study trips to Milan, Pavia, Lodi, Piacenza and Brescia followed and deepened his further inspirations. The spontanous and expressive character of the present drawing, the quick flow of lines and the physiognomies of the figures point to the influence of Bolognese artists such as Sansone und Graziani. A similar artistic conception can be observed in his painterly works, including the decoration of the Capella del Sacramento in the Duomo Vecchio in Brescia or the Cappella di S. Antonio da Padova in the Collegiate church of S. Francesco in Milan.