Giovanni Giacomo Sementi was a pupil of Denys Calvaert and during the 1620s he worked with Guido Reni. He collaborated with Francesco Albani on the decoration with mythological and allegorical scenes of the Palazzo Odescalchi at Bassano di Sutri, absorbing Albani’s composed naturalism derived from the models of the Carracci. The painter’s early work are characterized by his choice of bright colours – whites, yellows and bright reds – together with the strong contrasts of light and shade, possibly derived from the works Baglione and Saraceni.

These paintings appear especially striking and were of a kind unknown in Bologna during the first decades of the Seicento. Subsequently, Sementi was to combine his sympathies f...