The Virgin and Child appearing to Saint Peter of Alcantára

Details

Giuseppe Passeri (Rome 1654-1714)
The Virgin and Child appearing to Saint Peter of Alcantára
with inscription in ink 'Mola' (lower right)
pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white and red chalk on pink prepared paper
9 ½ x 7 ¼ in. (24.2 x 19.1 cm)

Provenance

Unidentified collector's mark (L. 474).
William Sharp, Manchester (19th century) (L. 2650, note on the back); Sotheby's, London, 1 March 1878, probably part of lot 653.
William Bates, Birmingham (1824-1884) (L. 2604; note on the mount).
with Colnaghi, London 1963.
Sir Gordon Sutherland, and by descent to the present owner.

Exhibited

Pittsburgh, Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh Collects: European Drawings, 1500 to 1800, 2004-2005, no. 28 (entry by T. Smart).

Sale room notice

Please note the measurements for this drawing are 9 ½ x 7 ¼ in. (24.2 x 19.1 cm).

Lot Essay

Canonized in 1669, Saint Peter of Alcantára is depicted here by Passeri with his typical attribute, the large wooden cross lying in the left foreground. Possibly exploiting the Saint's popularity, the artist could have made this drawing hoping that a Spanish cleric would commission a painting of this subject. A prime example of the artist's signature brush-and-red-chalk technique, the sheet reveals the influence on the young Passeri of Carlo Maratti and Ludovico Carracci, whose altarpiece to The Madonna and Child appearing to Saint Hyacinth, now in the Louvre (inv. 186), is evidently quoted here.

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