Orfeo nell’ade

A Stanzione signature dated 1636 from the 19th century was removed during Paul Pfister's extensive restoration in 2005. The myth of Orpheus in the Underworld is described in detail in Vergil's Georgica, IV, 453-527, and Ovid's Metamorphoses, X, 1-77. Orpheus performs before Pluto and Proserpina, asking them to free his wife Eurydice from the realm of the dead. Preti extends the composition, in which the judge of souls Rhadamanthus, the river god Acheron and the hell hound Cerberus appear, to include prominent inhabitants of the underworld: ferryman Charon, Sisyphus, Tythius, Tantalus, Ixion, also Dante and Virgil. It is a picture of the young Preti. The theme points to knowledge of contemporary Florentine culture and is closely linked to the beginnings of opera. Source