Mercury About to Behead Argus
Artist
Ubaldo Gandolfi
Italian, 1728–1781
Datecirca 1770–1775
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions86 1/8 x 53 7/8 in. (218.8 x 136.8 cm)
Frame: 98 x 59 7/8 in. (248.9 x 152.1 cm)
Frame: 98 x 59 7/8 in. (248.9 x 152.1 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), in memory of Robert Lee Humber
Object number83.2
On View
On viewPublished References[Padre Landi servita], “Vita di Ubaldo Gandolfi scritta dal Padre Maestro Landi Servita,” in Atti e memorie del Accademia Clementina, Vol. 2 (Bologna, Archivio Accademia Clementina, 1764–82/1781), ms. inserted between carte 370–71 [“Nel Palazzo Marescalchi di Bologna si osservano favole dipinti a olio che certo meritano ogni estimazione”].
Pitture, scolture, ed architetture delle chiese, lioghi, pubblici, palazzi, Case della Città di Bologna e suoi suborghi (Bologna, 1782), 144. [“A questi si è aggiunta una correnza di dipinti in tela e su i muri de’ migliori nostril moderni in tatnte Camere aggiunte nella nuova di lui ampliazione fra quali sis ono distinti li Fratelli Ubaldo,e Gaetano Gandolfi…”]
Marcello Oretti, “Descrizione delle pitture che ornano le case de’ cittadini della Città de Bologna,” Bologna Biblioteca Comunale, ms. B. 109, carta 113 [ca. 1760–1787].
Marcello Oretti, “Notizie de’ professori del Dissegno, cioè Pittori, Scultori ed., Architetti Bolognesi e de’ Forestieri di sua Scuola...,” [ca. 1770–87]
Bolgna Biblioteca Comunale, ms. B.134, carta 181 [“Ubaldo Gandolfi, Casa Marescalchi per longo, nel 1770”]. [ca. 1760–1787]
Jacopo Alessandro Calvi, Succinte Notizie dei due celebri professori di Pitture Ubaldo e Gaetano Gandolfi scritte da un altro professore pittore loro contemporaneo [June 30, 1802] ms., Kunsthistorisches Institut, University of Vienna: “parecchi Quadri in casa Marescalchi di favolose invenzione.”
Lidia Bianchi, I Gandolfi (Rome, 1936), nos. 34–40 (as lost).
Mimi Cazort Taylor, “The Paintings of Ubaldo Gandolfi,” (Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, 1971), no.X-76-X-81.
Italian Paintings 1550–1780 (London: P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., Ltd., 1976), cat. no. 35, illus. pl. XXXV.
David H. Steel, “Gandolfi Paintings are Recent Gifts,” North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Spring 1983), discussed 11–12, illus. (b-w) 11.
Monica Proni, “Per la ricostruzione della quadreria del Conte Ferdinando Marescalchi (1753–1816),” Antologia di Belle Arti. Studi sui neoclassicismo 1, nos. 33–34 (1988), 37–38 [33–41] [“sei quadri con grandi figure copiate dal vero rappresentanti la Storia del Argo ed Io…quadri per l’in piedi,” located in a “capella da basso].
Prisco Bagni, “Nuove scoperte su Ubaldo Gandolfi,” Accademia Clementina. Atti e Memorie, 24 (1989), 84, illus. fig. 76.
L[ois] S[taton], “Music and Art United in Bologna,” North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1989–90), mentioned 25.
Donatella Biagi-Maino, Ubaldo Gandolfi (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1990), 13, 76–77, 78 nn.20–25, 264, no. 72, pl. 12, fig. 130.
Donatella Biagi-Maino, “La pittura in Emilia Romagna nella seconda metà del Settecento: Gandolfi, Ubaldo,” in La pittura in Italia: Il Settecento (Milan, 1989), 261 vol 2, 730.
Daniele Benati, Disegni Emiliani del Sei-Settecento: Come nascono idipinti (Milan, 1991), no. 81.
Prisco Bagni, I Gandolfi. Affreschi, Dipinti, Bozzetti, Disegni (Bologna, 1992), no, 110.
Nicholas H. J. Hall, ed., Colnaghi in America: A Survey to Commemorate the First Decade of Colnaghi in New York (New York: Colnaghi, 1992), 100, illus. (color) 101.
Keith Christiansen, Italian Painting (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. 1992), 131, illus. (color).
Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 204.
“Bella Pittura. The Art of the Gandolfi,” (exhibition catalogue) (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1993), 14, 31, 43.
David Steel, entry for Mercury Lulling Argus to Sleep, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998),150, illus. (color).
Donatella Biagi Maino, Gaetano e Ubaldo Gandolfi: Opere Scelte (exhibition catalogue) (Torino: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2002), cat. no. 24, illus. (color) pl. 24, mentioned 30.
Monica Preti Hamard, Ferdinando Marescalchi (1754–1816). Un collezionista italiano nella Parigi napoleonica (Bologna: Minerva, 2006), 2 vols. [pp.?].
David Steel, entry for Mercury Lulling Argus to Sleep, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 312, illus. (color) 313.
Marco Riccòmini, Fogli Barocchi: Disegni bolognesi tra Seicento e Settecento (Paris and Bologna: Maurizio Nobile, 2016), noted 52, illus. (color) 55, fig. 31.
Exhibition HistoryLondon, P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., Ltd., "Italian Paintings 1550-1780," May 26-July 2, 1976, cat. no. 35, illus. pl. XXXV.
Ottowa, Canada. National Gallery of Canada, "Bella Pittura: The Art of The Gandolfi," June 18-Sept. 6, 1993; Little Rock, AR, Arkansas Art Center, Sept. 30- November 11, 1993.
Cento, Italy, Church of San Lorenzo, Auditorium, "Gaetano e Ubaldo Gandolfi: Opere Scelte," April 13 - June 16, 2002, cat. no. 24, illus. (color) pl. 24, mentioned 30.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement
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