Angelo Caroselli

Angelo Caroselli
Singing man, possibly a self-portrait
Born1585, Rome
Died1652, Rome
NationalityItalian
Known forPainter, art restorer, copyist, forger

Angelo Caroselli or Carosèlli (11 February 1585 – 8 April 1652) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in his native Rome. He created religious works, allegories, portraits as well as genre scenes in the vein of the Caravaggisti. He also returned regularly to scenes of witchcraft and sorcery.[1] His style is eclectic style and shows influences principally from Caravaggio and the painters of 'low-life' scenes active in Rome called the Bamboccianti. His work is characterised by its search for originality.[2] This is demonstrated in the potent naturalism and chiaroscuro that characterise his compositions and his preference for depicting colorful characters of contemporary Rome and scenes of witchcraft and musicians.[1] The work of Caroselli was influential on other Caravaggisti such as the Lucchese painter Pietro Paolini and the Dutch painter Dirck van Baburen.[3][4]

Despite the Caravaggist influences his work is characterised by its search for originality and a certain resistance to the triumphant absolutism of the Baroque style, which is expressed through some 'archaicizing' leanings in his work.[2][5] Caroselli was also active as an art restorer, copyist, and, possibly, forger.[6] In recent years a corpus of paintings has been attributed to a yet to be identified artist referred to with the notname of Pseudo-Caroselli. The style of the anonymous artist is so close to that of Caroselli that it is believed that this artist must have been in direct contact with Caroselli. The resulting similarity in styles has made it difficult to attribute certain works with certainty to either of the two artists.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Attributed to Angelo Caroselli, An allegory of love with a singing violinist and a courtesan with coins in her palm at Sotheby's
  2. ^ a b Anna Ottani Cavina, Angelo Caroselli, in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 20 (1977) (in Italian)
  3. ^ Renate Möller. "Caroselli, Angelo." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 March 2020
  4. ^ Wayne Franits, Dirck van Baburen and the “Self-Taught” Master, Angelo Caroselli. in: Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art, vol. 5:2 (2013)
  5. ^ Non fu solo un copista. Angelo CAROSELLI, la vita e le opere, in una imponente monografia di Marta Rossetti (in Italian)
  6. ^ Angelo Caroselli at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)