Lot Essay
Related to a picture of the same subject commissioned in 1692 by Pope Innocent XII for the main altar of the Chapel of the Baptism designed by Carlo Fontana in Saint Peter, Rome, F. Titi, Studio di pittura, scoltura, et architettura nelle chiese di Roma (1674-1763), Florence, 1987, no. 58, illustrated. The picture was executed in 1696-8 and transported in 1732-4 to the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli to be replaced by a mosaic of the same composition, F. Titi, op. cit., no. 57, illustrated.
A drawing for the same picture, showing numerous differences from this sheet, is in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, M. Mena Marques, Dibujos Italianos de los siglos XVII y XVIII en la Biblioteca Nacional, exhib. cat., Madrid, 1984, no. 89, illustrated. Four further drawings are in the Academia di San Fernando and another is at Holkham, A.E. Popham and C. Lloyd, Old Master Drawings at Holkham Hall, Chicago, 1986, no. 173, fig. 3A6. Chalk drawings of details are in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, A. Sutherland Harris and E. Schaar, Die Handzeichnungen von Andrea Sacchi und Carlo Maratta, Düseldorf, 1967, nos. 386-396, figs. 98-101. On the basis of a photograph Dr. Ann Sutherland Harris considers the present drawing a studio work.
A drawing for the same picture, showing numerous differences from this sheet, is in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, M. Mena Marques, Dibujos Italianos de los siglos XVII y XVIII en la Biblioteca Nacional, exhib. cat., Madrid, 1984, no. 89, illustrated. Four further drawings are in the Academia di San Fernando and another is at Holkham, A.E. Popham and C. Lloyd, Old Master Drawings at Holkham Hall, Chicago, 1986, no. 173, fig. 3A6. Chalk drawings of details are in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, A. Sutherland Harris and E. Schaar, Die Handzeichnungen von Andrea Sacchi und Carlo Maratta, Düseldorf, 1967, nos. 386-396, figs. 98-101. On the basis of a photograph Dr. Ann Sutherland Harris considers the present drawing a studio work.