The Poisoning of Sinorix, circle of Pietro Testa c. 1640

A beautifully executed classical composition showing Sinorix escaping the effects of the poisoning from the temple of Artemis. This is an early piece dating from circa 1640-1650. We have therefore attributed this to the circle of Pietro Testa, but it very well could be by the master himself; this would need further research by an authority on the artist.

It is similar in manner, particularly the figures, to a painting titled 'The Death of Sinorix' attributed to Pietro Testa which was offered at Christie's Old Masters Evening Sale 8th December 2022 lot 20 with an estimate of £60,000-£80,000. In their bibliography for this lot they cited E. Cropper's 1988 book on Pietro Testa's Prints and Drawings which stated that "the attribution of the canvas [to Testa] remains highly questionable" whilst simultaneously providing another later source which attributes it directly to Testa. It is fairly likely that this painting is intended as a pair for the one offered at that Christie's sale as it is remarkably similar, though showing a chronologically earlier scene in reverse with the temple on the left instead of the right. We are not an authority on the painter and cannot make any attributions of course, but these similarities are certainly worth noting.

In the manner similar to the aforementioned Christie's painting, the quality of this composition is as fine as anything Testa painted, being very intricate with many figures and an expert use of perspective with the smaller figures in the background. The figures are very expressive and the colours very vibrant, drawing one's attention immediately to the three sections of the painting: the left, with the chaos surrounding the temple of Artemis; the centre, with the figure of Sinorix being carried away, and the right, with the chariot ready for Sinorix to be taken away.

There are other paintings exploring the same scene by artists such as Charles Poerson (French, 1609-1667), though remarkably different in interpretation. The original story of this scene comes from Plutarch, where a character named Camma was wedded to the tetrarch Sinatus, and became known and admired for her virtue and beauty. Sinatus' rival, another tetrarch named Sinorix, murdered Sinatus and proceeded to woo Camma herself. Rather than submit to Sinorix' advances, Camma took him to a temple of Artemis where she served poison to both herself and him in a libation of either milk and honey or mead. Camma died happily, according to Plutarch, in the knowledge that she had avenged the death of her husband.

"Pietro Testa depicts the chaotic moment of Sinorix’s limp body being carried away from the temple as the crowd erupts violently around him. The subject was virtually without pictorial precedent at the time and characteristic of Testa’s highly unusual selection of themes, which has been linked with his personal interest in Platonic philosophy and his own melancholic temperament. His death by drowning in the river Tiber at the age of thirty nine is understood to have been an act of suicide. The artist was born in Lucca in 1612 and recorded in Rome by the mid-1620s. His first success was as a draughtsman, particularly of antiquities. While in Rome he worked for Joachim Sandrart, the painter and biographer, providing drawings for the Galleria Giustiniani, an etched compendium of Vincenzo Giustiniani’s collection of classical sculpture. By 1630, he was employed by Cassiano dal Pozzo to provide drawings of antiquities for the Museo Cartaceo (dal Pozzo’s celebrated ‘Paper Museum’), and it is through this connection that Testa met Claude Lorrain, Gaspard Dughet, François Duquesnoy and, most notably, Poussin, the driving force in bringing classical principles to the art of the day. Testa, while well respected as a printmaker and draughtsman, strove to make a name for himself as a history painter. He joined the studio of Domenichino, and then, when the latter moved to Naples in 1631, that of Pietro da Cortona. Testa’s paintings of the 1630s were conceived in a poetic, lyrical style, clearly reflecting the influence of Poussin, and moving in the 1640s toward an even greater monumentalism, which is expressed in this painting." [From the Christie's lot essay] 

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Erroneously attributed to Giovanni Paolo Panini by an old sticker on the verso. From our research this is best attributed to the circle of Pietro Testa (1611-1650), as this follows an etching attributed to Testa held at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art entitled 'Sinorix carried from the temple of Artemis trying to escape the effects of the poisoning' [Accession Number: 26.70.3(40)]. Also see a similar etching which sold at Christie's Old Master Prints sale 28th January 2021 lot 109 for £4,375 (GBP) based on the original attributed to Pietro Testa, circa 1635-1645.

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