Michele Rocca (1666 -1751) Diana and Endymion

Michele Rocca known as the "Parmigianino"
(Parma 1666- Venice 1751)
Pair of Mythological Scenes

2) "Diana and Endymion"
Oil painting on canvas
Measures cm. 97 x 72
Frame cm. 105 x 80
Very good condition

Magnificent pair of paintings depicting two of the most fascinating scenes of Greek and Roman mythology.
The Myth of Diana and Endymion is narrated in Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and tells the story of Diana, Goddess of the hunt and of the Moon, and her impossible love for her for the young mortal shepherd Endymion.
Diana was madly in love with this beautiful shepherd and asked her father Zeus to give him eternal youth. Zeus partially satisfied the requests of her daughter, but in addition to not making him grow old, he plunged Endymion into an eternal sleep. There was nothing left for Diana to do but go and admire her beloved who slept unconsciously. This myth explained, in ancient times, why, on certain nights, the sky was without a moon: the goddess in love descended from the sky with her chariot pulled by swans to go and find her love asleep with her.

The canvas is painted in a masterly way and the naked bodies of the two protagonists, arranged horizontally on top of each other, are truly splendid. The Goddess with diaphanous skin and full of sensual femininity, and the handsome Young Man lying in a languid and virile pose. Two winged cherubs hold up Endymion to show him to Diana while two others flit in the sky around the carriage pulled by the swans, from which the Goddess has descended.

The composition is particularly successful and the nudity of the elegant figures stand out in an excellent way in the setting rich in lights and shadows of the river undergrowth.
The works are to be attributed to the talented Parmesan master Michele Rocca whose workshop specialized in the creation of historical and mythological paintings that are always very complex and scenographic.