Corrado Giaquinto
The Virgin and Child
Oil on canvas (relined). 44.7 x 36.2 cm.
The tenderness of the embrace between mother and child is the main motif of this painting. The relatively small format and the intimate atmosphere identify it as a work intended for private devotion. The composition captivates with its close-up viewpoint, the even and finely modelled profile of the Virgin and the remarkable abundance of artfully draped fabrics in different colours.
The painting has been attributed to the Neapolitan artist Corrado Giaquinto by Dr Edgar Peters Bowron when it first appeared on the international art market in 2008, where it almost tripled its estimated price.
After his training in Naples, Corrado Giaquinto moved to Rome as early as 1727, where he was accepted as a member of the "Accademia di San Luca" in 1740. Despite great success and important patrons from ecclesiastical and noble circles in Rome, the painter followed a call to the court of the Spanish King Ferdinand VI in 1753, who shortly afterwards appointed him director of the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid.
Giaquinto's Neapolitan style, inspired by Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena, took on a classicist-aristocratic turn in Rome under the influence of Carlo Maratta in particular, a quality which also characterises this painting and lends it its particular grace.
Provenance
Sotheby´s, London 10.07.2008, lot 229. - Acquired there for 121,250 GBP. - Important Italian private collection.