Antonio Domenico Gabbiani - The Birth of the Virgin - image-1

Lot 2070 Dα

Antonio Domenico Gabbiani - The Birth of the Virgin

Auction 1160 - overview Cologne
14.11.2020, 11:00 - Old Masters
Estimate: 12.000 € - 15.000 €

Antonio Domenico Gabbiani

The Birth of the Virgin

Oil on canvas. 145 x 203 cm.
In the original frame.

Francesca Baldassarri describes this hitherto unpublished work as a mature masterpiece of the Florentine painter Domenico Gabbiani. The art historian dates the canvas to the first decades of the 18th Century. A protege of the Medici Family, Gabbiani found fame and favour amongst the Florentine aristocracy, working for the Corsini, Gerini, Incontri, Orlandini, Riccardi, Ridolfi, Rinuccini and recieving numerious commissions for the decoration of the noble's city palaces. Following an apprenticeship in the studio of Valerio Spada, Gabbiani worked under Justus Sustermann and Vincenzo Dandini, he later moved to Rome in 1673. There, under the supervision of Ciro Ferri and Ercole Ferrata, he studied at the Palazzo Madama Accademy, founded by Cosimo III de' Medici, becoming one of the leading and most praised members of the institution. In those years, he also met Benedetto Luti, his former pupil, and the highly celebrated Carlo Maratta. Later travelling to Venice, he completed his studies under Sebastiano Bombelli, becoming a skilled portrait painter.
Back in Florence, he obtained his first important public commission in 1685: The altarpiece of the Glory of Saint Francis de Sales for the Church of Santi Apostoli. There, the artist still strongly displayed the influence by Vincenzo Dandini mixed with the Roman orthodox “Cortonismo” of Ciro Ferri. From the beginning of the 18th century, following the artistic preferences of his principal patron Cosimo III, Gabbiani developed an elegant Neoclassical style characterized by a bright colour palette and light brushstrokes, leaning towards Settecento buoyancy.
The present work can certainly be grouped among the mature output of this period: The figures are harmonically displayed on the canvas, the draperies classically rendered, the colours skilfully balanced.
The artist's virtuosismo in drawing plays a central role in the present work, as in Gabbiani´s entire oeuvre. As reported by the Art Historian Luigi Lanzi, Gabbiani was considered amongst the most skilful draftsmen of his era. In support of the proposed date, Baldassarri compares the Birth of the Virgin with the Presentation to the Temple in the Pistoia Museo Civico, executed in 1719. Although documentary evidence for the piece is missing, it is thought to have been commissioned by one of the above mentioned aristocratic Tuscan families.
We are thankful to Dr Francesca Baldassarri, upon whose essay this catalogue entry is largely based.

Certificate

Francesca Baldassarri, 07.02.2014.

Provenance

Continental private collection.