Giovanni Battista Gaulli, called Baciccio

Probably Caterina Gaulli Miloni (1729–1803), Palazzo Bacicci, Rome, by 1803;

Art market, New York, by 2023;

Where acquired by the present owner.

Probably listed in the posthumous inventory of of Caterina Gaulli Miloni dated 11 January 1803 ([41] Quadro rappres:e la Maddalena trasportata dalli Angioli, alto pal:5, e largo 4 ½ sc. 40);

Probably M. Fagiolo dell'Arco and F. Pantanella, Museo Baciccio: in margine a quattro inventari inediti, Rome 1996, p. 25 and 124;

Probably F. Petrucci, Baciccio, Giovan Battista Gaulli 1639–1709, Rome 2009, p. 659, no. E304 (under lost works).

This luminous canvas depicting The Assumption of Mary Magdalene is an exciting new addition to the œuvre of Giovanni Battista Gaulli, known as Baciccio, one of the most highly regarded artists of the Roman High Baroque. Painted towards the end of his career, this celestial composition is a testament to Gaulli's superlative painterly style, celebrated for its vitality and colour. This work may also be identified as the canvas cited in the posthumous inventory of Caterina Gaulli Miloni, granddaughter of the artist.

Bathed in golden light, the Magdalene is depicted nude, being transported to heaven by an angel and a multitude of swirling putti. This composition is reminiscent of the work of Gaulli's forebear, Giovanni Lanfranco and his captivatingly poetical canvas also depicting The Assumption of Mary Magdalene, executed almost a century earlier for one of the smaller rooms of the Palazzo Farnese, Rome, and now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples.¹ The two artists never met, however Gaulli would have been aware of Lanfranco's work, notably his celebrated frescoes in the Church of Sant' Andrea della Valle, Rome.

We are grateful to Dr Francesco Petrucci for endorsing the attribution to Giovanni Battista Gaulli on the basis of digital images, and for identifying the picture as a mature work by the artist, executed between 1700 and 1709.

¹ Oil on canvas; 110 x 78 cm.; https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-assumption-of-magdalena-giovanni-lanfranco/oQGAFJ7MXXmH8w