Lot 1117 D α

Giovanni Domenico Ferretti was born in Florence and trained in Bologna by Giovan Battista Crespi and possibly Giovan Gioseffo dal Sole. He is recorded in Florence as of 1713, where he was active as a portraitist, as well as a genre and fresco painter. Ferretti can be considered one of the foremost artists of the Florentine Rococo.
The present painting, hitherto unpublished, reveals the Bolognese training of the artist and could be dated to around the 1730s-1740s. Loose brushwork, strong chiaroscuro effect, voluminous forms, and monumental figures placed in the foreground characterize Ferretti´s works from around this time.
The figure far left can be linked to a drawing representing the dying Saint Joseph, now in the Gabinetti e Stampe degli Uffizi (5794 S.)