LOMBARDE school circa 1650 - Lot 17

LOMBARDE school circa 1650 Archimedes 92.5 x 71 cm Unframed The Lombard school of the Seicento, influenced by Caravaggio and Severe Realism (Crespi, Procaccini, Morazzone, Nuvolone), produced several representations of the Greek scholar. These include anonymous works and those from Milanese workshops showing Archimedes absorbed in his calculations or at the siege of Syracuse. A well-documented example is a pair of 17th-century paintings on cardboard by the Milanese school, depicting Diogenes and Archimedes, emblematic figures of ancient genius, treated with dramatic chiaroscuro and typically Lombard naturalism. These paintings reflect the period's interest in the philosophers and scholars of antiquity, often painted as half-figures or pensive philosophers, with mathematical instruments (compasses, spheres, tablets). [RM]