Attributed to Sebastiano Galeotti

With Lasson Gallery, London, 1968 (as Jean-François de Troy);

From whom acquired and anonymously sold (‘The Property of a Gentleman’), London, Sotheby's, 28 October 2010, lot 138;

There acquired by the previous owner;

By whom gifted to the present owner. 

H. Brigstocke in Masterpieces from Yorkshire Houses, exh. cat., York 1994, p. 96, no. 58 (as attributed to Sebastiano Galeotti).

This bozzetto relates to a larger picture, also sketchy in handling, recorded in the collection of J.R. Chichester-Constable Esq. of Burton Constable Hall, which Alastair Laing attributed to Galeotti in 1994.¹ He compared the latter with the large signed work by Galeotti of Rebecca at the Well in the Iliffe Collection at Basildon Park, Berkshire, and another canvas by the artist depicting Moses striking the Rock, auctioned by Cambi, Genoa, 15 April 2014, lot 65.² A version of the present composition, attributed to Andrea Casali (1705–1784), was sold Paris, Baron Ribeyre & Associés, 9 April 2010, lot 54.³

We are grateful to Alastair Laing for endorsing the attribution to Sebastiano Galeotti on the basis of photographs.

¹ Oil on canvas, 67.5 x 88.5 cm.; reproduced in Brigstocke 1994, p. 96, no. 58.

² https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/266917; https://www.cambiaste.com/uk/auction-0192/sebastiano-galeotti-firenze-1675-mondovi-17-1-127230

³ https://www.baronribeyre.com/en/lot/7085/1358029?offset=50&