Denys Calvaert

(Antwerp 1540–1619 Bologna)
The Judgement of Solomon,
oil on canvas, 82 x 105 cm, framed

We are grateful to Massimo Pulini for endorsing the attribution of the present painting. He suggests a date of execution at the beginning of the 1570s.

Denys Calvaert, known as ‘Dionisio fiammingo’ or ‘Dionigio bolognese’ from the early 1570s, arrived in Bologna already thoroughly trained in the production of art, soon becoming the most trusted collaborator of Lorenzo Sabatini. From Sabatini, he swiftly absorbed the stylistic conventions of figural representation and emotive expression characteristic of the Emilian school of painitng, seamlessly integrating among local painters.

After accompanying his master to Rome for a cycle of significant frescoes and remaining there for several years to complete his training, Calvaert returned to Bologna to establish a workshop that would produce pupils of the highest caliber including Guido Reni, Francesco Albani and Domenichino.

This previously unpublished Judgment of Solomon is a significant rediscovery that enriches the corpus of works from Calvaert’s early Emilian period. The stylistic proximity to the work of Lorenzo Sabatini suggests an early dating of the work, likely at the beginning of the 1570s. Moreover, the soldier in the foreground on the right closely recalls the Allegory of Vigilance (Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale, inv. no. 493), signed by Denis Calvaert and dated 1568. The elegant female figure on the left foreground, gazing reassuringly at her child, also draws inspiration from Sabatini’s refined idiom. Her face echoes the Virgin in the Holy Family with the Infant Saint John and Saint Michael the Archangel (Bologna, San Giacomo Maggiore), executed jointly with Lorenzo Sabatini and datable to 1564.

The present painting is of the Bolognese maniera: fabrics with deep folds, jewel-like ornamentation, choreographed gestures, and a palette modulated in pastel tones. Golden yellows and geranium pinks, acidic greens and aged ivories reverberate throughout: a range of colour emblematic of the late sixteenth-century Bolognese school, in dialogue across time with the palette of Federico Barocci.