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Lot Essay
Born in Pistoia, the sitter was the niece of Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi, the future Pope Clement IX (1667-1669), being the daughter of his brother Clemente. Two portraits of her were registered in the 1713 inventory of Duca Giovanni Battista Rospigliosi's collection in his Roman palace (see F. Zeri, op. cit.): one in the 'tela d'Imperatore' dimension, the other in the smaller 'tela da testa' format. Although the name of Carlo Maratti was not specified in that manuscript, these entries are customarily identified with his identically signed versions of the portrait in the Galleria d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome (100 x 75 cm.) and in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (94 x 73 cm.). If the Paris canvas appears to be a replica with some studio assistance, the Barberini picture has always been considered the prime original, of which two workshop copies have appeared on the Roman art market in the last fifty years.
The present, hitherto unpublished portrait (also identically signed) reopens the question, since the superlative quality of execution outshines the albeit autograph Barberini version, and will be included in Stella Rudolph's forthcoming monograph on the artist as the prime original of the image. The portrait is usually dated around 1665 (see E.K. Waterhouse, op. cit.), the year in which Maria Maddalena married Baldassarre Panciatichi. However, the addition by a later hand of his surname to the inscription on the letter in this version only, suggests that it was probably painted at least a year earlier, possibly on occasion of her engagement. Whatever the case, it belongs to the very period in which Carlo Maratti was emerging as a dominant figure on the Roman artistic scene due to the patronage of the Barberini and Chigi families during the papacy of Alexander VII.
In the brief reign of Clement IX Maratti was continually employed by the Rospigliosi for their portraits, along with the numerous studio replicas he supervised. The present portrait of Maria Maddalena stands out, together with his 1669 portrait of the Pope (Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana), as one of the most vivid and ambitious in this phase of the High Baroque. The realistic rendering of her sturdy features, encapsulated in a magnificent black-and-white costume garnished with lace, bows, pearl-drop pendant and pearl necklace against a sumptuous brocade curtain, strikes a pithy contrast to the less characterized ladies portrayed in the 'Beauty Galleries' then fashionable among the Roman aristocracy.
We are grateful to Dr. Stella Rudolph for writing this catalogue entry.
The present, hitherto unpublished portrait (also identically signed) reopens the question, since the superlative quality of execution outshines the albeit autograph Barberini version, and will be included in Stella Rudolph's forthcoming monograph on the artist as the prime original of the image. The portrait is usually dated around 1665 (see E.K. Waterhouse, op. cit.), the year in which Maria Maddalena married Baldassarre Panciatichi. However, the addition by a later hand of his surname to the inscription on the letter in this version only, suggests that it was probably painted at least a year earlier, possibly on occasion of her engagement. Whatever the case, it belongs to the very period in which Carlo Maratti was emerging as a dominant figure on the Roman artistic scene due to the patronage of the Barberini and Chigi families during the papacy of Alexander VII.
In the brief reign of Clement IX Maratti was continually employed by the Rospigliosi for their portraits, along with the numerous studio replicas he supervised. The present portrait of Maria Maddalena stands out, together with his 1669 portrait of the Pope (Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana), as one of the most vivid and ambitious in this phase of the High Baroque. The realistic rendering of her sturdy features, encapsulated in a magnificent black-and-white costume garnished with lace, bows, pearl-drop pendant and pearl necklace against a sumptuous brocade curtain, strikes a pithy contrast to the less characterized ladies portrayed in the 'Beauty Galleries' then fashionable among the Roman aristocracy.
We are grateful to Dr. Stella Rudolph for writing this catalogue entry.