The Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist

The present painting is based on an engraving by Carlo Maratti, inscribed and dated 1647, that the artist never executed in oil paint. The treatment of the subject reflects Trasi's training under Andrea Sacchi and Carlo Maratti in Rome in the 1640s. This painting, which is only slightly larger than the engraving (17.5 x 12.8 cm.), is an unusual example of Trasi's work on a diminutive scale.

We are grateful to Dr. Stella Rudolph for suggesting the attribution to Ludovico Trasi from photographs, and for her assistance in cataloguing the present lot (written communication, 7 August 2006).