Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Sassoferrato Sassoferrato 1609 - 1685 Rome

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 20 April 1988, lot 250.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The original canvas is lined, and further reinforced along its tacking edge. There is a consolidated and patched damage lower right. The paint layer is stable and devoid of discoloured varnish. Under U-V light can be seen a scattering of small retouchings to the figure of the Madonna, face, left and right cuffs , and her mantle. They are also to be seen in the background where it meets the top of the mantle. The general condition is good."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Giovanni Battista Salvi was known by the name of his town of birth, Sassoferrato, and was primarily active in nearby Urbino and other central Italian cities. In Rome he came under the influence of Annibale Carracci and Domenichino, of whom he was a pupil for some time. His style appears to be almost deliberately archaic and the precise draughtsmanship and choice of colouring, which were not typical of his Italian Baroque contemporaries, led eighteenth-century historians to believe that he was in fact a contemporary of Raphael.

Other than a few public commissions, Sassoferrato painted mainly small devotional pictures for private clients and the Madonna at prayer was one of his most popular subjects. He repeated the composition of the present lot on various occasions and examples can be found in Milan, Castello Sforzesco, and in Rome, Galleria Doria Pamphilij, inv. no. 225.¹  The many different versions of this composition are of variable quality, depending on the degree of workshop participation, however the present painting seems to be by the artist's own hand.

We are grateful to M. François Macé de Lépinay for endorsing the attribution to Sassoferrato on the basis of photographs.

1.  See Giovan Battista Salvi, "Il Sassoferrato", exhibition catalogue, Sassoferrato, 29 June - 14 October 1990, p. 73, cat. no. 22, and p. 86, cat. no. 31, both reproduced.