FRANCESCO GRAZIANI (active in Naples and Rome in the second half of the 17th and early 18th century) Battle Oil on canvas, 73X96 cm Provenance: Milan, private collection Already referred to Salvator Rosa in the collection to which it belongs, the painting must be attributed to the hand of Francesco Graziani who, in this case, proves to be very close in style and quality to the master's achievements. The work must also be judged to be in a good state of preservation, despite the dirt and the now yellowed final varnish. Confirming the aforementioned conditions are the thickness of the paint paste and the colour impasto that characterises the entire surface. These aspects make the canvas an important and valuable addition to the artist's catalogue, best documenting his talent and ability to devise complex war and landscape scenes. The attribution is further confirmed by stylistic comparisons, recognisable in the typical draftsmanship with fringed and curled manners that our artist learnt from Salvator Rosa and Borgognone. Nevertheless, the speed of unfolding and the atmospheric sensibility indicate a date of execution approaching the 18th century, for that synthesis of rapid and vigorous touches. Yet, from a biographical point of view, information on the artist is scarce. According to Lanzi, Graziani was a pupil of Jacques Courtois and his presence in Rome can be traced back to the early 1970s, when he painted a series of canvases (now lost) with Stories from the Old and New Testaments for the Church of the Holy Apostles. This information, reported by Buchowiecki, is however not corroborated, but it is certain that by the ninth decade the painter was well established and Filippo Titi mentions the Preaching of the Baptist in the Cimini chapel in Sant'Antonio dei Portoghesi, datable to around 1683, and the Penitent Magdalene for the church of Santa Croce della Penitenza alla Lungara, now identified with the Crucifixion and Saint Mary Magdalene in the parish church of Ardea, among the works commissioned by the public. That said, in the following years Graziani was to devote himself purely to the battle genre, as attested by the inventories of the Barberini collection and in particular the works in the Spada and Pallavicini collections, which allowed Federico Zeri an initial analysis of the author. Returning to the canvas under examination, we reiterate its high quality, the same as that found in the precious oil on copper in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore (Cf. F. Zeri, Italian Paintings in the Walters Art Gallery, 1976, p. 472 no. 352) and, above all, in the works conserved in the above-mentioned collections. Reference bibliography: F. Zeri, La Galleria Pallavicini in Rome, Florence 1959, p. 145 W. Buchowiecki, Handbuch der Kirchen Roms, I, Wien 1967, pp. 415, 647 L. Salerno, I pittori di paesaggio del Seicento a Roma, Roma 1977-1978, vol. II, pp. 644-654 F. Titi, Studio di pittura, scoltura et architettura nelle chiese di Roma (1674-1763), edited by B. Contardi, S. Romano, Florence 1987, I, pp. 21, 209; II, pp. 57, 386 G. Sestieri, I Pittori di Battaglie, Rome 1999, pp. 360-371