'The Music Concert', Niccolo Frangipane (Padua, documented 1563 to 1597), 16th century Italian Mannerist school

'The Music Concert', Niccolo Frangipane (Padua, documented 1563 to 1597), 16th century Italian Mannerist school
Oil on canvas, 107 x 93.5 cm. Framed: 125 x 110 cm. Niccolò Frangipane was possibly born in Padua, in the second half of the 16th century, although other sources place his birthplace in Udine, Venice or Rimini. The historian of the Friuli family, Liruti (1762), wrote that he was born in Tarcento (1555-1600), where according to him he was a disciple of Titian. However, the latest research seems to support that he belonged to a family from Padua, and his birth took place between 1540-1545. Following the Counter-Reformation opinions, he dedicated part of his work to religious and mythological painting, both of a classical nature, but he also left room for more profane subjects, once again inspired by Giorgione, with a strong burlesque character and Flemish echoes of the work of Quentin Massys, as well as including comic and grotesque elements with roots in the world of Ferrara, heir to Leonardo Da Vinci, and of course, with the Cremona school, especially with the work of the Campi. The treatise writer Marco Boschini, in the 17th century, who learned about Frangipane's work through literary sources, was the first to praise the whimsical and fantastic capacity of his models. The last painting that Frangipane carried out on Romagna soil in 1587, will be the Madonna del Rosario, since he returned to Venice in 1593 to carry out one of his most famous works, the Deposizione, for the Frari sacristy. Bibliography: Mancini, M. (1998). Biographical Dizionario degli Italiani. Volume 50. Provenance: 1653, Count of Monterrey (nº85, T 84); 1993: Dragonetti de Torres, Laquila; 1998: former Maurizio Marinni collection, Rome.