Flora and the Infant Bacchus in a Wooded Landscape
Pier Francesco Mola·1650
Historical Context
Pier Francesco Mola was an Italian painter working in Rome whose idiosyncratic style combined a Venetian colorism absorbed during his youth in northern Italy with a Roman classical training. Flora and the Infant Bacchus in a Wooded Landscape from around 1650 shows him at his characteristic intersection of mythological figure painting and landscape, in which small, luminous figures inhabit a richly rendered natural setting. Mola's independent, slightly eccentric position within Roman Baroque painting has made him an increasingly appreciated artist.
Technical Analysis
The landscape dominates the composition, with the mythological figures of Flora and Bacchus placed in a middle-ground clearing. Mola's warm, rich palette and loosely handled foliage reflect his Venetian training, while the compositional structure owes something to the Roman classical landscape tradition.
