Jupiter als Kind, von der Ziege Amalthea genährt

Carlo Cignani was the leading Bolognese painter of the generation after Guido Reni and Domenichino, inheriting their classical tradition while introducing greater sensuous elegance. His Jupiter nurtured by the goat Amalthea, painted around 1673, treats the childhood of Jupiter in Crete, hidden from his father Saturn. The subject was an opportunity for Cignani to combine his strengths in the depiction of children — he was celebrated for his infant figures — with mythological subject matter.

The infant Jupiter is depicted in a soft, idealised manner characteristic of Cignani's treatment of children and putti. The goat Amalthea and the attendant nymphs complete the pastoral mythological setting. Cignani's warm, delicate palette and smooth sfumato handling reflect his synthesis of Reni's idealising tendency with Correggio's softness.