Giovanni Battista Caracciolo called Battistello

Miss Jane Thornewill, Dovehill, Staffordshire, by whom sold in 1924 to Agnew's (as by Caravaggio);
With Agnew's, London (as by Caravaggio), 1924-26;
From whom acquired by Dr. Siegfried F. Aram, Berlin in 1926;
Hermann Voss, Wiesbaden and Berlin, by 1927;
With Jacob M. Heimann, Milan, New York and Beverly Hills, before 1938;
Gift of Jacob M. Heimann to The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1946, (acc. no. 46.17).

Berlin, Antiquitätenhaus Wertheim, Italienische Malerei des 17 und 18 Jahrhunderts: Ausstellung aus Berliner Besitz, May-June 1927, cat. no. 22;
Wiesbaden, Nassauisches Landesmuseum, Italienische Malerei des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, May-June, 1935, cat. no. 30;
Poughkeepskie, NY, Vassar College Art Gallery, Exhibition of Italian Baroque Painting of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 1940, cat. no. 6;
San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Italian Baroque Painting, 17th and 18h Centuries, May 16-June 15, 1941, cat. no. 12;
Sarasota, Florida, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Baroque Painters of Naples, March 4-April 4, 1961, cat. no. 4;
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Caravaggio and His Followers, October 27, 1971-January 2, 1972, cat. no. 12.

H. Voss, "Neues zum Schaffen des Giovanni Battista Caracciolo," in Jahrbuch der Presussichen Kunstammlungen, 1927, p. 131, fig. 132;
V. Bloch, "La Pittura italiana à Berlino," in Vita artistica, II, no. 8-9, August-September 1927, pp. 176-77, reproduced;
S. Ortolani et al, La mostra della pittura napoletana dei secoli XVII, XVIII, XIX, exhibition catalogue, Naples 1938, p. 30;
R. Longhi, "Ultimi studi sul Caravaggio e la sua cerchia," in Proporzione, I, 1943, p. 44, no. 30;
W.R. Valentiner, "Baroque paintings," in Bulletin of the Art Division, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Spring 1947, p. 7, fig.1;
R. Longhi, "Los Angeles County Museum: A Catalogue of Italian, French and Spanish Paintings," in Paragone, 59,1954, p. 64;
P. Wescher and E. Feinblatt, Los Angeles County Museum, Catalogue of Paintings II: Catalogue of Italian, French and Spanish Paintings, XIV-XVIII Century, Los Angeles 1954, p. 41, cat. no. 37, reproduced;
O. Ferrari, "Seicento napoletano a Sarasota," in Napoli nobilissima, 1961, pp. 236-237, no. 4;
Illustrated Handbook of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles 1965, p. 63, reproduced;
A. Moir, The Italian Followers of Caravaggio, Cambridge, MA 1967, Vol. I, p. 165, Vol. II, p. xiii, reproduced fig. 196;
R. Spear, Caravaggio and His Followers, exhibition catalogue, Cleveland 1971, pp. 64-65, cat. no. 12, reproduced (as circa 1615-20);
B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1972, p. 591;
M. Stoughton, The Paintings of Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, PhD dissertation, Ann Arbor 1973, pp. 96-97, cat. no. 25;
W. Prohaska, "Beiträge zu Giovanni Battista Caracciolo," in Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischer Sammlunger in Wien, 74, 1978, pp. 242, 252, reproduced;
P. Leone di Castris, in Painting in Naples 1606-1705,  from Caravaggio to Giordano, exhibition catalogue, London 1982, p. 122;
N. Spinosa, La pittura napoletana del '600, Milan 1984, reproduced fig. 97;
S. Schaefer, et al. European Painting and Sculpture in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles 1987, p. 28, reproduced;
S. Causa, Battistello Caracciolo, L'opera completa, Naples 2000, p. 200, cat. no. A99, reproduced p. 299, fig. 297.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting may have been restored quite recently and is presentable as is. The canvas has been lined. The very thick paint and gesso layer had developed some quite strong cracks in the past which have improved with the lining but which have attracted a fair amount of retouching. The lighter portions of both figures, including the faces and drapery, have also been slightly abraded and there are retouches here addressing abrasion. The toes of the child in the lower left corner have also been quite thoughtfully augmented and there is a fairly broad filling across the bottom edge to make up for some loss of paint. Similar losses have occurred across the top edge. The figures and general palette and feeling of the picture, although consistently restored, have responded very well. The painting looks beautiful as is and the restoration is extremely conscientious and diligent, and is very complimentary to the picture.
"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."

Though dated by Hermann Voss as an early work and by Richard Spear to circa 1615-20, Stefano Causa concurs with Alfred Moir's dating of this painting as a late work by the artist, dateable to the 1630s.  Moir lists a replica of this painting that was in the Hausmann collection in Cologne before World War II.  A drawing of the Madonna and Child, variously attributed to Annibale or Agostino Carracci (Devonshire collection, Chatsworth) depicts the Virgin in a similarly tender embrace of the infant Christ and Causa speculates that Caracciolo may have known that composition.