The Angel Musician

This painting of an angel kissing a sleeping child can be regarded as dating from the early years of the 20th century. As a religious reworking of the theme of motherhood, the work shows the influence of the contemporary Symbolist movement. In that period Irolli treated both Christian themes and the more traditional subjects of genre painting, displaying particular sensitivity in the depiction of children and maternal love. While alluding to the Decadentist subject matter of music and dreams, the figure of the angel musician in the painting in the Cariplo Collection also displays the affectionate intimacy to be found in a similar painting of a guardian angel keeping watch over a slumbering child, namely Guardian Angel (whereabouts unknown), exhibited in a solo show in Livorno in 1933. The free handling of the paint, use of pure colour and figures with hazy outlines but lively expressive gestures show the influence of Antonio Mancini, an unquestionable point of reference in the Neapolitan world of art in the late 19th and early 20th century.