(Este 1631–1722 Venice)
Tomiris with the head of King Cyrus,
oil on canvas, 198 x 294 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly collection of Nadal Donà (died 1708), Venice

Documented:
possibly post-mortem inventory of Nadal Donà, Venice, 8 August 1708, Biblioteca del Museo Civico Correr, Venice (mss. P. D. C 2064, fasc. 1, cc. 16v-17v): ‘4 n° 4 Tomiri della mano del Zonca’

Another version of Tomiris by Zanchi, almost identical to the present work, is known and was once in Palazzo Widmann-Foscari, Venice (see P. Zampetti, Antonio Zanchi, Bergamo 1988, pp. 580-81, cat. no. 149). A painting depicting the story of Tomiris was recorded in the 1708 post-mortem inventory of Nadal [Natale] Donà, a Venetian nobleman. He left twenty-one paintings from his collection to his daughters, who were nuns in the Convent of San Mattio, in Murano and it has been suggested that the present painting may have been one of these.

Here, Queen Tomiris of Massagetae, is shown observing with satisfaction the defeat of Cyrus the Great, who after falling in battle, was beheaded by her. Tomiris had sought to avenge herself on Cyrus as he had lured her son into a trap who then, out of humiliation, had taken his own life.

Zanchi presents the narrative in a nocturnal setting with strong directional lighting which bathes the principal figures in the foreground. The muscular torso of the bending man at the centre of the compostion is characteristic of Zanchi’s figures and the kneeling pose of the young page reappears in several works. The low viewpoint, together with the colouring and stark contrast of light and shadow, heighten the sense of urgency and drama of the scene.

Zanchi was among the most active and productive artists in Venice during the second half of the seventeenth century, along with Carl Loth, Zanchi is representative of the work of the Tenebrosi. Painters who belonged to this artistic current were influenced by Jusepe de Ribera and the early work of Luca Giordano. The first representative of this school was the Genoese, Giovanni Battista Langetti, whose work had a strong impact on Zanchi’s early production.

Zanchi was born in Este in 1631. In 1661 he was described by the Florentine painter and poet Sebastiano Mazzoni as a ‘Pittor celeberrimo’ [‘celebrated painter’]. He moved to Venice in 1650 where he remained for the rest of his life. Here, influenced by Luca Giordano, and reflecting the style of Giovanni Battista Langetti (1625–1676), he was part of a school of painting which emphasised the effects of a strong chiaroscuro and a raw realism reminiscent of Ribera: all together these elements contributed to the creation of works of great drama, such as the present painting.