Scipione, Il principe cattolico

Photogallery

Scipione, Il principe cattolico
Scipione, Il principe cattolico
Room 4. Rome and the Roman School

Scipione painted The Catholic prince between 1929 and 1930, shortly after completing his studies. The young artist was influenced by his contact with and closeness to Mario Mafai and Antonietta Raphaël, and produced his most important masterpieces precisely in those years, developing formal solutions suited to his visionary streak. Shown in 1930 at the exhibition dedicated by the Galleria d’Arte di Roma to the works of Scipione and Mafai, The Catholic prince belongs to this fortuitous creative season. Its dark colour scheme, the summary definition of the figure and the gloomy atmosphere are the painting’s defining elements. The artist offered the work to its subject, Prince Ruspoli, then assistant to the papal throne, who according to the poet Leonardo Sinisgalli refused the gift on the grounds that the portrait had been executed with the same rawness and truth that Scipione applied to his still lifes.