GIOVANNI ANDREA DONDUCCI known as MASTELLETTA (Bologna, 1575 - 1655) Landscape Oil on canvas, 84.5X205.5 cm Provenance: From a noble Roman collection Although Mastelletta's career took place mainly in the 17th century, his art is strongly inspired by Nicolò dell'Abate and Jacopo Zanguidi known as Bertoja, without neglecting Correggio and Parmigianino. For this reason, the artist can be considered one of the last but best expressions of European Mannerism, thus eccentric compared to his Bolognese colleagues, even though he was trained in the school of the Carracci. A friend of Guido Reni, Donducci chose a highly personal mode of expression that was also not immune to suggestions from Ferrara, looking for example to Scarsellino. It is not surprising then that Malvasia (cf. C. C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice. Vite dei pittori bolognesi [1678], Bologna 1841, II, pp. 67-72), who described him as a bizarre spirit, smoky and brilliant but also depressed and lonely. However, as Wittkower pointed out, it is difficult to establish cause and effect between an artist's sanity and his output. Thus, the work under examination becomes paradigmatic, highly imaginative in its evocation of the landscape, reflecting the qualitative tightness of the early works completed within the first five years of the 17th century and characterised by a peculiar luministic and chromatic direction and a depth that evokes Niccolò dell'Abate's bird's eye perspectives. In comparison, we can rightly cite the Flight into Egypt from the Hospital of the Infirm in Faenza, The Visit of Cleopatra to Antony from the Micheli collection in Milan and the Adoration of the Shepherds in the National Gallery in Parma. We thank Massimo Pulini for the attribution. Reference bibliography: A. Coliva, The Mastelletta. Giovanni Andrea Donducci 1575-1655, Rome 1980, ad vocem A. Cera, La pittura emiliana del Seicento, Milan 1982, ad vocem E. Sambo, in La raccolta Molinari Pradelli, Bologna 1984, p. 99, n. 56 A. Emiliani, Nell'età del Correggio e dei Carracci, exhibition catalogue, Bologna 1986, pp. 495-500