David Loreti, “Pittore à Piè di Marmo in Rome”. A clarification of the artist’s work

The recent discovery of two portraits in Lombardy by the painter David Loreti (Fabriano 1708 –Rome 1768) has enriched what we know of the portrait activity of this artist from the region of the Marche, until now noted only for a few paintings in the Pallavicini collection in Rome identified by Federico Zeri, and a few others in the Chigi collection in Ariccia, only recently attributed to him. The first, which has never been published and was discovered following its restoration, depicts the ‘Portrait of the Carmelite Angelo Torriani’ (Clusone, Bergamo, Museo Arte Tempo) (1743–1746). This work may very well be considered his most successful given its extraordinary and very natural execution. The second painting, the ‘Portrait of Bishop Giuseppe Maria Scarampi’ (Vigevano, collection of the Ospedale Civico) (1775), recently published but without further research, is also noteworthy for its pictorial quality and sheds light on Loreti’s gifts, particularly as a specialist in portraits of ecclesiastics. These recent finds expand the catalogue of his portraits with the attributions and analyses of works located in the region of the Marche, which confirm a certain fluidity of execution, already apparent in the ‘Portrait of Cardinal Flavio Chigi’, whose authorship is certain. In comparison with the group of ecclesiastic portraits that demonstrate a coherent pictorial inspiration, the more celebratory pictures of the Roman aristocracy reveal far weaker compositional solutions and a decidedly uncertain pictorial language, so much so that the paternity of these works ascribed to David Loreti may be put in question. The article instead proposes that they belong either to the workshop of Loreti’s father–in–law, Andrea Piserni, or the hand of his son, Camillo Loreti, who was also a portraitist.