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Artist: Domenico Fetti (1588–1623)
Italian painter
Work period: Baroque
Work location: Rom, Mantua, Venice
Title: A Classical Poet
English: A Poet from Antiquity
Object type: Painting
Description: This imaginary portrait of a classical poet was part of a series of nine celebrated poets painted for the ducal court at Mantua. Following Caravaggio’s lead, Fetti chose as his model an ordinary man, depicted without idealisation and with a strong physical presence. The poet is portrayed as a mature man with a weather-beaten face and an inward-looking expression. His balding head is crowned with laurels, since antiquity a mark of distinction reserved for the victor, whether emperor or poet. A soft light is focused on the sensitively modelled face and powerful hands. Fetti brings to life the inspired poet beneath the coarse exterior, offering the viewer a portrait of the classical poet as intensely human as it is distinctly unheroic.
Date: from circa 1620 until 1621
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Height: 140 cm (55.1 in). Width: 110 cm (43.3 in).
Framed: Height: 164 cm (64.6 in). Width: 134 cm (52.8 in). Depth: 8 cm (3.1 in).
SKU: 274771
