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Lot Essay
A study for the Madonna and Child in Reni's Madonna and Child appearing to Saint Dominic, with the Mysteries of the Rosary in the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, Bologna (D.S. Pepper, op. cit., 1984, no. 6). A study for the whole composition was formerly in the collection of Keith Andrews (Edinburgh, 1972, op. cit., no. 92, illustrated p. 92).
Stephen Pepper dates the commission to 1597-8, when Guido was still an active pupil of the Carracci Academy, but shortly after Agostino Carracci had left for Rome. As such the handling of the present drawing owes more to Lodovico Carracci's emphasis on colour and texture than the rigorous attention to contour and form enshrined in Agostino's insistence on drawing from the studio model. As Dr. Pepper noted 'whereas under Agostino's influence Reni stressed firm outline, and indicated modelling by means of parallel lines, in this phase of his career he changes his intentions; outlines are sketchy and shadows are made by pools of wash' (D.S. Pepper, op. cit., 1968, p. 372).
The commission was given to Reni following the enthusiastic reception by the Dominican Sisters of the Santuario di San Luca of two small pictures, since lost, painted in 1596-7 to flank the icon of the Madonna della Guardia, supposedly painted by Saint Luke, which was the devotional centre of their Sanctuary. The Dominican Order had an especially close relationship with the artists of the Carracci Academy, possibly through the influence of Floriano Ambrosini, offical architect of the Order, who was a member of Agostino Carracci's close circle. As a result Reni received a significant number of his early commissions from the Order.
The subject chosen for the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca was of particular significance to the Dominicans. The scene represents the Vision of Saint Dominic, in which the Madonna and Child appear to the Saint on the eve of a battle during the crusade against the Albigensian heretics, and present him with a chaplet of beads, 'the crown of roses of Our Lady' or the rosary. The scene thereby combines a statement of the visionary authority of Saint Dominic's mission, and by extension the authority of the Order he founded and the city, Bologna, where he was buried, with the more personal and devotional significance of the rosary, which was central to Dominican teaching.
Stephen Pepper dates the commission to 1597-8, when Guido was still an active pupil of the Carracci Academy, but shortly after Agostino Carracci had left for Rome. As such the handling of the present drawing owes more to Lodovico Carracci's emphasis on colour and texture than the rigorous attention to contour and form enshrined in Agostino's insistence on drawing from the studio model. As Dr. Pepper noted 'whereas under Agostino's influence Reni stressed firm outline, and indicated modelling by means of parallel lines, in this phase of his career he changes his intentions; outlines are sketchy and shadows are made by pools of wash' (D.S. Pepper, op. cit., 1968, p. 372).
The commission was given to Reni following the enthusiastic reception by the Dominican Sisters of the Santuario di San Luca of two small pictures, since lost, painted in 1596-7 to flank the icon of the Madonna della Guardia, supposedly painted by Saint Luke, which was the devotional centre of their Sanctuary. The Dominican Order had an especially close relationship with the artists of the Carracci Academy, possibly through the influence of Floriano Ambrosini, offical architect of the Order, who was a member of Agostino Carracci's close circle. As a result Reni received a significant number of his early commissions from the Order.
The subject chosen for the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca was of particular significance to the Dominicans. The scene represents the Vision of Saint Dominic, in which the Madonna and Child appear to the Saint on the eve of a battle during the crusade against the Albigensian heretics, and present him with a chaplet of beads, 'the crown of roses of Our Lady' or the rosary. The scene thereby combines a statement of the visionary authority of Saint Dominic's mission, and by extension the authority of the Order he founded and the city, Bologna, where he was buried, with the more personal and devotional significance of the rosary, which was central to Dominican teaching.