A Soldier Entering the Tent of a Queen (Alternative Title: Sketch for an Allegorical Figure; An Allegorical Scene)

Carlo Innocenzo Carlone (attributed to) 1686 - 1775

Summary

This unidentified scene is almost certainly an oil sketch for a large allegorical fresco. Damage to the canvas, as a result of over-assiduous cleaning before the painting was acquired by the gallery, makes the subject difficult to read, but it is likely to have been taken from mythology or ancient history. One possible identification could be Venus and Mars with Cupid. A female figure in a tiara, wearing a robe that exposes her right breast and her left leg, reclines elegantly on a horseshoe-shaped couch, holding upright a large tablet or mirror. She is accompanied on the left by a small figure, whose role is unclear. On the right, a man entering the scene with a dramatic gesture appears to be a soldier. Carlone, the son of an architect, moved to Venice as a boy and subsequently to Rome, where he studied under Francesco Trevisani (1656-1746) and at the French Academy there. From 1707-33 he worked in Switzerland, South Germany and Austria, later settling in northern Italy, where he was widely active. He is best known for his large-scale fresco decorations and for the oil sketches he made in preparing them but the attribution of this work to Carlone remains doubtful.