Provenance: Private Collection, New York.
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner.
NOTE:
Anna Matteini was the daughter of famed portrait and figure painter Teodoro Matteini. Married to Lodovico Lipparini, she is mostly known for the elegant and precise landscapes she painted throughout her career, such as the present work. She was mostly active in Venice, where she died in 1878. The present work is particularly interesting as its extreme and accurate sense of realism indicates that the artist most likely visited the Corycian cave in Greece, which is here barely shown and only noticeable through the wisps of smoke pouring out of it. In Greek Mythology, the cave is named after the nymph Corycia. It was a sacred refuge for the local nymphs and all the Muses, as well as a place of worship for the god Pan. The Muses were later relocated down the mountain, at the Shrine of Delphi.