Lorenzo Pasinelli (Bologna, 1629-1700)
Concert of Angels, 1680/1690 ca.
oil on canvas; inv. P 117
acquisition: bequest of Pier Ignazio Rusconi, 1930
In the late 17th century, Lorenzo Pasinelli, a pupil of Simone Cantarini, was among the most important and influential heirs of the classical Bolognese tradition. He managed to spread his style by means of a large group of pupils, such as Giovan Gioseffo Dal Sole and Donato Creti. This lovely sketch, perhaps a preparation for a painting now lost or never completed, dates from the later period of the artist’s activity. The work might be identifiable with the “group of putti playing instruments and singing” once in the collection of Nicolò Baldelli. Baldelli, a member of the Accademia dei Gelati, describes this painting in a poem published in his booklet, Wandering Protheus (1691). The success of the composition can be attested to a second version in a private collection and an etching based on a sketch by the painter Ippolito Marracci of Lucca.
