Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Il Sassoferrato
The Virgin and Child
Oil on canvas (relined). 50 x 37 cm.
The proceeds from this lot and Lempertz´s commission will be donated to humanitarian aid in the Ukraine.
Professor François Macé de Lepinay has viewed the painting in person and confirmed Sassoferrato's authorship.
The painting corresponds to a work by Sassoferrato now in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, which shows a half-length depiction of the Madonna with Child in a larger section of the picture (inv. no. 382). The elegant figure of the Madonna lowers her gaze in a melancholic gesture, aware of the future fate of Her Son, while the lively infant Christ embraces His Mother and nestles against Her. Like other works by Sassoferrato, this painting follows Raphael's model, namely the Madonna Mackintosh, which is now housed in the National Gallery in London (inv. no. NG 2069) and has been greatly admired by artists for centuries. Although Raphael's work is in poor condition today and we can only guess at its former quality, the sketch for the composition in the British Museum (ill. 1; inv. no. 1894,0721.1) reveals something of what fascinated artists such as Sassoferrato and may others about Raphael's Mackintosh Madonna.
BU:
Raffael, Karton der Mackintosh Madonna / Raphael, Cartoon for the Mackintosh Madonna © The British Museum
Provenance
Jacques Eynard Collection, Geneve. - Sale Koller, Zurich, 28.3.2004, lot 6056. - DELI-collection, Monaco.
Literature
The Eynard Collection, Genève, Musée d´art et d´histoire de Genève, p. 212, no. 125,
Exhibitions
Formerly on loan to the Musée d´art et d´histoire de Genève, Geneva.