Provenance
Comte d'Arthois, Paris.[1] (Metropolitan Galleries, New York), in 1931-1932.[2] (Nicholas M. Acquavella Galleries, New York), in 1938.[3] (Dr. Siegfried F. Aram, New York), in 1941.[4] Purchased by the Rizik family, Washington, D.C.;[5] gift 2001 to NGA.
[1] According to the 1941 exhibition catalogue (see note 4), the set of four paintings by Giaquinto, _Spring_, _Summer_, _Autumn_, and _Winter_, was formerly in this collection.
[2] Metropolitan Galleries lent the four paintings to a 1931 exhibition in Birmingham, Alabama, and included the paintings in a 1932 exhibition in their own galleries.
[3] Acquavella Galleries lent the four paintings to a 1938 exhibition in Memphis.
[4] This dealer was Dr. Siegfried F. Aram, a German lawyer-turned-art collector and dealer, who left Nazi Germany and had a gallery on 57th Street in New York until the early 1950s (see his letter of 3 June 1955 to Dr. Edgar P. Richardson, Archives of American Art, Edgar Preston Richardson Papers, Box 1: Special Correspondence A-B, Folder: Aram, Siegfried; copy in NGA curatorial files). Aram lent the four paintings to an exhibition in San Francisco in 1941.
[5] All four paintings were purchased from a New York dealer, probably Aram, by Philip Rizik's father, who died in 1953, at which time the paintings passed with the elder Rizik's estate to his widow. When she died in 1978, her estate passed in equal shares to the Rizik's seven children. Philip, Jacqueline, and Maxine Rizik chose by mutual agreement joint ownership of the set of Qiaquinto paintings.
Accession Number
2001.123.1
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 108.4 x 151.5 cm (42 11/16 x 59 5/8 in.) | framed: 132.1 x 175.7 x 10.2 cm (52 x 69 3/16 x 4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of the Rizik Family
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Canvas Italian
Background & Context
Background Story
Autumn from c. 1740-50 is the companion to Winter in Giaquinto's series of the four seasons, depicting the allegorical figure of Autumn with the same graceful decorative style that distinguishes the series. The allegorical figure is surrounded by the fruits and attributes of the harvest season, rendered in the warm, golden palette that Giaquinto uses to represent the seasonal transition from summer to winter. Like the other seasons in the series, Autumn demonstrates Giaquinto's ability to combine the allegorical tradition of Renaissance decorative painting with the graceful, Rococo-influenced manner that characterizes his work.
Cultural Impact
The four seasons by Giaquinto form an important series in 18th-century Italian decorative painting because they demonstrate how the allegorical tradition of Renaissance decorative painting was transformed by the Rococo manner. Autumn's warm, golden palette represents the seasonal transition from the warmth of summer to the cold of winter, creating a series of paintings that move through the color spectrum as well as the seasonal cycle.
Why It Matters
Autumn is the seasonal companion to Winter in Giaquinto's decorative series: the allegorical figure surrounded by harvest attributes in a warm, golden palette that represents the seasonal transition. The c. 1740-50 painting demonstrates Giaquinto's combination of Renaissance allegorical tradition with Rococo decorative grace.