Giuseppe Zocchi

(Florence 1711-1767)

The Flaying of Marsyas; The Judgment of Midas (2)

Footnotes

Provenance
Private Collection, Genoa
Sale, Cambi, Genoa, 17-20 September 2007, lot 1052, where purchased by the present owner (as Giovanni Paolo Panini)

The present pair of paintings offer a potentially important and interesting addition to the oeuvre of Giuseppe Zocchi, the artist best known for his views of Florence and its surroundings. The type and subject of the present works are unusual for Zocchi and show him at his most Panini-like. The present works may be compared to his designs of the early 1750s for the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence (see, for example, fig. 1) and perhaps the work where he comes closest to Panini can be found in the Predica di una sibilla in the Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai. The distinctive, silvery palette of the present pair of paintings along with the softer treatment of the foliage suggest the hand of Giuseppe Zocchi.

Whilst there are comparisons to be drawn with Zocchi's works of the early 1750s for the Opificio dell Pietre Dure in Florence, the present pair show a greater degree of refinement and polish than these latter paintings. The figures are more compact and finer in quality than the Pietre Dure studies.

Albeit with small differences in the composition, the source for the Judgment of Midas is surely the pen and ink sketch of the same subject at the Uffizi, Florence (Santarelli 6407, see fig. 2). A further pen and ink study also showing figures amongst ruins (Santarelli 6408) is clearly by the same hand which uses the distinctive loopy technique with a strong diagonal bent to describe the foliage. This latter drawing was attributed by Edward Maser to Giuseppe Zocchi (see: E. Maser, 'Drawings by Giuseppe Zocchi for works in Florentine Mosaics', in Master Drawings 5, 1967, no. 1, p. 47-53). However, no final work in the Opificio delle Pietre Dure exists for either drawing.

Comparison with other works for which there is a direct connection with the Pietre Dure paintings, such as his preparatory sketches for Smell and Touch and Taste (see: A. Tosi, Inventare la realta'. Giuseppe Zocchi e la Toscana nel Settecento, Florence, 1997 p. 142, ill.) reveal the same distinctive diagonal hatching for the foliage. A further comparative example could be found in his study La Moscacieca also in the Uffizi, done in preparation for a work that was never executed. This latter drawing shows not only the diagonal hatching but also the pools of dark wash used to create the shadows and form the figures. The close technical affinities between the aforementioned Pietre Dure studies in the Uffizi make an attribution to Zocchi for the Judgment of Midas sketch and therefore the present pair of paintings entirely plausible.