Lot Essay
Although Ceruti is best known for his uncompromisingly realistic portrayals of low-life subjects, by the mid-1720s he had also established a reputation as a painter of portraits. Into this later category fall his likenesses of clerics, monks and tertiaries - lay religious figures - in which the sitters are posed quite simply against neutral backgrounds; works which are characterized by an air of immediacy, sincerity and quiet faith.
Mina Gregori (loc. cit.) has noted that Donna Alba Regina del Ferro was most probably a tertiary or a member of a woman's religious school, as indicated by her sombre costume and the book that she holds. There is an apparent pendant portrait of a cleric, who is traditionally identified as a young Benedictine monk known as Pellegrino del Ferro, who lived in the reformed monastery attached to the basilica of Santa Giustina in Padua (see Gregori no. 122). Both he and Donna Alba were members of the prominent del Ferro family of Padua, and it would seem logical to date these two portraits to the time of Ceruti's stay in Padua in 1738-9. This date also coincides with the ordination of Pellegrino as a priest, which took place on 17 December 1738, and it would thus appear that the portrait of Pellegrino was painted to commemorate the event. Gregori notes that a 'Rev.da donna alba Maria Ferro, d'anni 60 circa' is known to have died in the convent of San Marco in Padua on 2 March 1764. Despite the different middle name, it is likely that she was the present sitter.
Mina Gregori (loc. cit.) has noted that Donna Alba Regina del Ferro was most probably a tertiary or a member of a woman's religious school, as indicated by her sombre costume and the book that she holds. There is an apparent pendant portrait of a cleric, who is traditionally identified as a young Benedictine monk known as Pellegrino del Ferro, who lived in the reformed monastery attached to the basilica of Santa Giustina in Padua (see Gregori no. 122). Both he and Donna Alba were members of the prominent del Ferro family of Padua, and it would seem logical to date these two portraits to the time of Ceruti's stay in Padua in 1738-9. This date also coincides with the ordination of Pellegrino as a priest, which took place on 17 December 1738, and it would thus appear that the portrait of Pellegrino was painted to commemorate the event. Gregori notes that a 'Rev.