Il Cacciatore. Man and woman in front of a burning stump.
I-RVat Ott.lat.1460; VII

Proportions

Il Cacciatore. Man and woman in front of a burning stump., to scale
392 × 270 mm, beside a 1.8 m figure.
Open in IIIF viewer — deep-zoom & compare

Il Cacciatore. Man and woman in front of a burning stump.

QUANTO M'INVECCHIO PIU' TANTO PIU' ARDOdo

Catalogue ID1.36b
Artist Gregorio Tomassini (17th century)
Object type drawing
Date[1648?]
PlaceRome
Collection Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Rome)
Inv. no.I-RVat Ott.lat.1460; VII
Tech. / supportbrown ink, paper, pen
Measures392 × 270 mm
Subject25G3 — trees
26A — clouds
26C — winds
31A231 — standing figure
31D15 — adult woman
31D16 — old man
33C23 — couple of lovers
92D1916 — cupids: 'amores', 'amoretti', 'putti'

A different hand, however. The motto may allude to personal events. Although the physiognomies of the putti and the figures on the left differ slightly from those typically seen, the atmosphere is notably gloomier. The ink on this sheet also seems harsher, producing particularly dark tones. The thick smoke rising from the barren tree is rendered in an engraving-like manner, with tightly packed concentric strokes; the blackened clouds are darkened with stippling between the lines, especially in the left portion of the sky—a technique typical of burin engraving. The same stippling is visible on the bodies of the putti and on the fur of the dog in the foreground on the left. The faces of the two figures on the left are unusually individualised and may be portraits. The woman is handing a folded sheet of paper to the monk, who has a furrowed, stern expression. As the motto anticipates, the couple seems to be quite aged, just like the tree. The two putti are blowing air onto the fire - The more time passes, the more I burn (for love?).

The putti can be compared to other works by Tomassini, like the angels decorating the chandeliers bearing the Chigi house symbols in I-RVat Chig. P. VI. 1, attributed by Romina Origlia in her PhD theis on carriages in seventeenth century Rome. The conduct of the lines for the tree and its holes can be compared with the frontispiece to toe collectionof poems by Virginio Cesarini, published in 1664 https://archive.org/details/virginiicaesarin00cesa (B1.6 in Bianco 2025). There should be also a plate with Alexander VII reaching Genzano with a view also by Tomassini, but I haven´t been able to trace it.

No musical work linked.

Bianco, Anna. Images for the Music: Drawings and secular cantatas. Ph.D. dissertation, Leiden University, 2025

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana current
View this object in the collection’s online catalogue →