Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Sassoferrato

Th. de la Noüe, Paris;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 28 May 1964, lot 12 (as by Philippe de Champaigne);
With Heim Gallery, Paris, 1966;
From whom purchased by The Cleveland Museum of Art in 1966 [Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, acc. no. 66.332].

 

London, Heim Gallery, Italian Paintings and Sculptures of the 17^th and 18^th Centuries, Summer 1966, no. 8;
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Year in Review, 1967, December 1967, no. 67;
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Baroque Images, 6 November 1984 - 6 January 1985, no. 12;
Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, 24 May - 23 August 1992; Atlanta, High Museum,  6 October 1992 - 3 January 1993, The Age of the Marvelous, no. 216.

M. F. Heim, "Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions", in The Burlington Magazine, June 1966, p. 330, reproduced fig. 62;
Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. LIV, June 1967, p. 170;
"1967 Year in Review", in Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. LIV, December 1967, p. 343, no. 67, reproduced p. 313;
A. T. Lurie, "Two Devotional Paintings by Sassoferrato and Carlo Dolci," in Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. LV, September 1968, pp. 219-229, reproduced fig. 1;
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, La Chronique des Arts, vol. LXXIII, April 1969, p. 5;
B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Cambridge 1972, pp. 184, 387, 574;
B. Dorival, Philippe de Champaigne 1602-1674: la vie, l'oeuvre, et le catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre, Paris 1976, vol. II,  p. 392, no. 2082, reproduced pl. 2076 (under misattributed works as La Vierge au Rosaire by Sassoferrato);
G. Donnini, "Qualco sugli inizi del Sassoferrato," in Notizie da Palazzo Albani, vol. XIV, 1985, pp. 69-70, note 11;
Cleveland Museum of Art, Handbook, 1986, p. 116;
Cleveland Museum of Art, Catalogue of Paintings:  Part Three.  European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries, Cleveland 1982, pp. 403-405, no. 177, reproduced;
A. Chong, European & American Painting in The Cleveland Museum of Art:  A Summary Catalogue, Cleveland 1993, p. 217, reproduced.

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 has been restored and if the canvas were to be tightened slightly, it could and probably should be hung in its current condition. The canvas is lined but there is a fair amount of texture and grain to the paint layer which lends it some character. Some of the retouches are visible under ultraviolet light in small spots in the robes of Saint Catherine and elsewhere but beneath an older varnish there are retouches which have been applied to reduce blemishes in the lighter colors not only in the figure of Christ but also in other areas. However, many of these retouches might not be necessary but at the same time the painting looks very fresh and lively.
"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."

The present painting is based upon Sassoferrato's only known documented altarpiece, The Madonna of the Rosary with Saints Catherine of Siena and Dominic, which is still in situ in the Church of Santa Sabina, Rome.  Depicting only the Christ Child and Saint Catherine, the artist has further altered the composition to adapt it to the small scale, votive format of the present work.  For example, the infant Jesus is now self-supporting, standing on a cushion on a low table set with crucifix, prayer book and the lilies that are the symbol of the saint.  As in the altarpiece, the child places a string of rosary beads into the saint's right hand and places the crown of thorns on her head.  Sassoferrato has further altered the composition by pushing the figures closer to the front of the picture plane and showing the saint at half- rather than full- length.  The close similarities between the two works have led scholars to conclude that this work was executed contemporarily to the Santa Sabina altarpiece, sometime circa 1643.

Three preparatory drawings exist for the major figures in the altarpiece.  The drawing of Saint Catherine conserved at Windsor Castle was clearly used for both the altarpiece and the present picture, as the placement of the figures' hands, head and robes is identical in all three.