Corrado Giaquinto

Commissioned by Ferdinand VI of Spain in 1746 (see below);
In the collection of the family of the present owners since at least the early 19th century.

The following condition report has been provided by Hamish Dewar, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. Structural Condition The artist's copper support is stable and secure with no evidence of any structural intervention in the past. Paint Surface The paint surface has a very discoloured varnish layer and should respond extremely well to cleaning. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows how discoloured the varnish layers have become, and shows only very small scattered retouchings. The varnish surface is uneven. Summary The painting therefore appears to be in very good and stable condition, and should respond well to cleaning, restoration and revarnishing.
"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."

This beautifully preserved copper by Corrado Giaquinto is a preparatory sketch for his remarkable altarpiece executed in 1749 for the church of Santissima Trinità degli Spagnoli in Rome.¹ Hitherto unknown to scholars, the bozzetto reveals Giaquinto's initial design for the altarpiece which he subsequently altered in numerous details. Another sketch, presumably executed after the present work, reveals the next stage of his thinking for the upper section of the altarpiece (Montefortino, Pinacoteca Comunale);² in the latter, the figure of Christ remains as He is in the present sketch, but the figure of God the Father has taken on the pose of the finished work, His left hand outstretched in a gesture of benediction to the slaves below, with His right arm now tucked under the mantle and grasping the staff which, in the present preliminary work, He holds in the opposite hand.

The finished altarpiece renders the scene from a very slightly higher viewpoint than the present work. The only figure to remain in largely the same pose is that of the archangel himself, while the freed slave sprawled at his feet holds the chain to his chest with his left hand where here it is still attached to his wrist. There are further minor differences to some of the peripheral figures and numerous additional putti looking down on the Holy Trinity. The figure of Christ, who remained unaltered in the aforementioned interim sketch, is finally given a dark beard and is turned more in profile to his left.

The church and convent of Santissima Trinità degli Spagnoli was built for Ferdinand VI of Spain between 1741 and 1746 to a design by the Portuguese architect Emanuele Rodriguez dos Santos. For the execution of the internal decorative scheme Ferdinand commissioned Giaquinto and his studio, which included the Spaniard Antonio González Velázquez (who painted two of the altarpieces for the five subsidiary chapels in the church) and it was undoubtedly the huge success of this project that saw Giaquinto summoned to Spain in 1753 to decorate the interior of the new Palacio Real. In Spain Giaquinto served as First Painter to the King, Director of the Real Academia de San Fernando and Director of the Royal Tapestry factory of Saint Barbara. It was thus the Santissima Trinità degli Spagnoli commission that propelled Giaquinto into the most important decade of his career and he continued to work for the Spanish crown even after his return to Naples in 1762.

1.  See S. Rudolph, La Pittura del '700 a Roma, Milan 1983, reproduced fig. 308.
2.  See C. Strinati, E. Gabrielli, Giaquinto. Capolavori dalle Corti in Europa, exhibition catalogue, Bari 1993, p. 148, no. 16, reproduced. A