Lot 2048 Dα

This previously unpublished work was assigned by Anna Orlando to the œuvre of Orazio de Ferrari in October 2019. De Ferrari was born on the outskirts of Genoa and taught to paint under Andrea Ansaldo (1584-1638). He moved to the city in 1634, where he mainly painted altarpieces and religious works. As Orlando notes, the depiction of the skin as well as the facial features and poses of the angel are typical of de Ferrari's works. The work shows particularly strong parallels to a piece depicting Our Lady of the Pillar appearing to Saint James which de Ferrari painted for the oratory of San Giacomo della Marina in Genoa in 1648. The two paintings show such striking similarity that we must assume a similar date for the present work.

De Ferrari was a highly productive artist who owed many of his stylistic characteristics to the influence of Gioacchino Assereto (1600-1650), from whom he adopted the impasto technique and the rigid compositional scheme. Anthonys van Dyck's depiction of Saint Rosalia from the year 1624 also displays strong compositional parallels to the present work. De Ferrari was without doubt one of the most influential figures in the pre-Baroque development of Genoese painting.