A pair of Italian scagliola panels, Carpi, after Michael Sweerts, 17th century

The present panels are after two paintings by the Flemish painter Michael Sweerts (1618-1664), respectively An Old Woman Spinning (acc. no. 170) and an Old Pilgrim in the collects ions of the Capitoline Museums (acc. no. PC 171). Both paintings are known to have come from Prince Gilberto II Pio di Savoia’s collects ion in 1750. They are described in the Capitoline inventory as: ‘Entrati in Campidoglio nel 1750: inv. Pio n.105 – 106: “Due quadrette rappresentanti due figure di Bambocciante cioè un Villano ed una Vecchia che fila, orignale da monsu Teodoro” [‘Received at the Capitoline in 1750: inv. Pio n.105 - 106: Two pictures depicting two figures by the Bambocciante, one a man, the other an old woman spinning, after Monsu Teodoro’].

The Pio di Savoia were the Counts of Carpi, a small town in Emilia Romagna which interestingly specialized in the ‘scagliola’ technique using plaster mixed with glue and dyes to create elaborate figurative surfaces. It is entirely probable that one of the master ‘scagliolists’ in Carpi executed the present panels when they had access to the original paintings upon commission in the 17th century.