Francesco de Mura

"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, the slightly raised paint surface is stable. There is a restored tear lower right and discoloured retouchings to the sky, upper right. The visibly abraded surface has lead to the compromising of shadows and the thinner areas of paint. The varnish is moderately discoloured."
"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."

We are grateful to Prof. Nicola Spinosa for endorsing the attribution to Francesco De Mura on the basis of photographs and for proposing a date of execution towards 1760. This is one of several known autograph replicas of the composition, all of which have some differences; one such replica, of slightly smaller dimensions, is in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, and is inscribed with the date 1762 on the reverse (see L.M. Onori, La Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome 1988, pp. 29-30, reproduced).