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Lot Essay
The present work is known to have been in the collection of the Rev. John Sanford (1777-1855). Born in England, Sanford amassed his collection, which consisted primarily of Italian paintings, when he resided in Florence in the 1830s, capitalizing on the financial misfortunes that befell many old Florentine families. Upon returning to England, he must have decided that his collection was too large for his London residence, Connaught Place, and proceeded to sell nearly 150 paintings through Christie's in March 1839. However, he had records made of these works in the form of small scale copies, mostly in watercolour. The present work was reproduced by G. Fanciullacci in this manner, although it is interesting to note that in the copy Salome's head is inclined to the left rather than the right. Four volumes of these watercolors, along with paintings from the original collection, were inherited by Sanford's only child, Anna, wife of Fredrick Henry Paul Methuen, the future 2nd Lord Methuen, and subsequently passed into the Methuen family collection at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, England.
The reconstruction of Marinari's oeuvre is somewhat problematic. Only two dated works are known (Flight into Egypt, church of Saints Michael and Leopold, Tinaia (1660), and a Self-Portrait in the Uffizi, dated 1709), and works now attributed to Marinari were formerly attributed to other Florentine artists, most notably his cousin Carlo Dolci (1616-1686), and Francesco Furini (1603-1646). Born in Florence in 1627, Marinari was apprenticed first to his father. He then entered the workshop of Dolci, where he learned the Florentine master's meticulous technique through the copying of his works. Thereafter he sought other artistic challenges, studying next under Baldassarre Franceschini, il Volterrano, (1611-1690) and then travelling to Lombardy and Rome before settling back in Florence where he matriculated at the Academy in 1653.
Among his first known public commissions is the Flight into Egypt, signed and dated 1660. The soft modelling and idealized figures show the influence of Correggio's works, which he must have seen during the trip to Lombardy, and mark the emergence of an artistic personality independent of Dolci, his first master. This individuality becomes more pronounced in a number of powerful depictions of half-length figures datable to circa 1665-1680, which are stylistically close to the present work. These include the Cleopatra and Artemesia exhibited in Il Seicento Fiorentino, Florence, Dec. 21,1986-May 4, 1987, nos. 530 and 531 (for a discussion of the paintings see the catalogue of the exhibition, III, p. 10). These works reveal the influence of Francesco Furini both in the half-length format of the compositions, which the latter had introduced to Florentine painting, and in the atmospheric chiaroscuro that is quite different to Dolci's more sculptural use of light. However the tighter draughtsmanship, which Marinari had no doubt learnt in Dolci's studio, sets him apart from Furini and characterizes his distinctive artistic style. Additionally, the loose and fluid painting of the rich costumes in all three works can also be seen in the St. Catherine of Alexandria in the Wallace Collection, London, that is now dated to circa 1670 and which was once given to Dolci before its present attribution to Marinari (J. Ingamells, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Pictures, 1985, I, p. 312, p. 562). Particularly striking in the latter work is the similarity of pose and facial type of the saint to the female attendant in the present work.
Marinari treated the subject Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist in two other known works. One composition was sold at Christie's, London, Feb. 9, 1979, lot 99 and the other, which is a smaller version of the London painting, is located in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (see A. Pigler, Katalog der Alter Meister, 1967, p. 414), along with its pendant of Judith with the Head of Holofernes. It is interesting to note that the head of Holofernes is virtually identical to that of St. John the Baptist in the present composition. These later treatments belong stylistically to the early 1580s when Marinari returned to the more even lighting and meticulous style of his first teacher, Dolci.
We are grateful to Francesca Baldassari for confirming the attribution on the basis of a transparency.
The reconstruction of Marinari's oeuvre is somewhat problematic. Only two dated works are known (Flight into Egypt, church of Saints Michael and Leopold, Tinaia (1660), and a Self-Portrait in the Uffizi, dated 1709), and works now attributed to Marinari were formerly attributed to other Florentine artists, most notably his cousin Carlo Dolci (1616-1686), and Francesco Furini (1603-1646). Born in Florence in 1627, Marinari was apprenticed first to his father. He then entered the workshop of Dolci, where he learned the Florentine master's meticulous technique through the copying of his works. Thereafter he sought other artistic challenges, studying next under Baldassarre Franceschini, il Volterrano, (1611-1690) and then travelling to Lombardy and Rome before settling back in Florence where he matriculated at the Academy in 1653.
Among his first known public commissions is the Flight into Egypt, signed and dated 1660. The soft modelling and idealized figures show the influence of Correggio's works, which he must have seen during the trip to Lombardy, and mark the emergence of an artistic personality independent of Dolci, his first master. This individuality becomes more pronounced in a number of powerful depictions of half-length figures datable to circa 1665-1680, which are stylistically close to the present work. These include the Cleopatra and Artemesia exhibited in Il Seicento Fiorentino, Florence, Dec. 21,1986-May 4, 1987, nos. 530 and 531 (for a discussion of the paintings see the catalogue of the exhibition, III, p. 10). These works reveal the influence of Francesco Furini both in the half-length format of the compositions, which the latter had introduced to Florentine painting, and in the atmospheric chiaroscuro that is quite different to Dolci's more sculptural use of light. However the tighter draughtsmanship, which Marinari had no doubt learnt in Dolci's studio, sets him apart from Furini and characterizes his distinctive artistic style. Additionally, the loose and fluid painting of the rich costumes in all three works can also be seen in the St. Catherine of Alexandria in the Wallace Collection, London, that is now dated to circa 1670 and which was once given to Dolci before its present attribution to Marinari (J. Ingamells, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Pictures, 1985, I, p. 312, p. 562). Particularly striking in the latter work is the similarity of pose and facial type of the saint to the female attendant in the present work.
Marinari treated the subject Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist in two other known works. One composition was sold at Christie's, London, Feb. 9, 1979, lot 99 and the other, which is a smaller version of the London painting, is located in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (see A. Pigler, Katalog der Alter Meister, 1967, p. 414), along with its pendant of Judith with the Head of Holofernes. It is interesting to note that the head of Holofernes is virtually identical to that of St. John the Baptist in the present composition. These later treatments belong stylistically to the early 1580s when Marinari returned to the more even lighting and meticulous style of his first teacher, Dolci.
We are grateful to Francesca Baldassari for confirming the attribution on the basis of a transparency.