Donato Creti and France: a painting in the Nice collections

A recently identified painting by Donati Creti (Cremona 1671-Bologna 1749) in Nice Musee des Beaux-Arts offers an opportunity to examine the models adopted by artists of the 18(th)-century Bolognese school and to provide new information on the history of artistic relations between France and the Bolognese school at this period. The work in Nice Museum can, precisely be compared with a collection of engravings by Francois de Poilly after Annibale Carracci-the Livre de Portraiture de Annib. Carrache-recently acquired by the University of Bologna. The album, executed after 1667, testifies to the role played by the de Poilly brothers in the dissemination of prints, notably that of Francois de Poilly, King's Engraver, who spent seven years in Rome and procured copies of Carracci's drawings. These drawings, and the engravings made from them, provided an excellent introduction to the study of nature; artists, encouraged by private academies that had been established under the aegis of wealthy patrons, adopted the models defined by the Carraccis. Such was the case with Donato Creti, who practised extensively on the models offered by his masters, drawing inspiration from them to obtain the most accomplished results in his own art.