The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Details

Studio of Francesco Francia (Bologna c. 1450-1517)
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria
oil and tempera on panel, transferred to canvas
23¾ x 9 1/8 in. (60.2 x 48.4 cm.)

Provenance

Horace Morison, Boston, by 1910, by whom sold to
Martin A. Ryerson, Chicago, 1916, and by descent to his widow, by whom bequeathed to
The Art Institute of Chicago, 1937.

Literature

F.M. Perkins, 'Dipinti italiani nelle raccolte americane', Rassegna d'arte, X, 1910, p. 100, illustrated, as Francesco Francia.
A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, VII, part 3, Milan, 1914, pp. 959-960, fig. 715, as Jacopo de' Boateri.
G.H. Edgell, 'The Loan Exhibition of Italian Paintings in the Fogg Museum, Cambridge', Art and Archaeology, II, 1915, pp. 19, 21, fig. 9, as Francesco Francia.
S. Reinach, Répertoire de peintures du moyen âge et de la renaissance (1280-1580), Paris, V, 1922, p. 378, illustrated, as Francesco Francia.
F. Filippini, 'Raffaello a Bologna', Cronache d'Arte, II, 1925, pp. 230-231, as Jacopo de' Boateri.
W.R. Valentiner, Paintings in the Collection of Martin A. Ryerson, unpublished manuscript, 1932, as Francesco Francia.
'Exhibition of the Ryerson Gift', Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, XXXII, 1938, p. 3, as Francia.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago. A Catalogue of the Picture Collection, Chicago, 1961, p. 226, as Italian school, 16th century.
B.B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972, pp. 74, 385, 571, under 'School, shop or studio work of Francesco Francia'.
C. Lloyd, Italian Paintings before 1600 in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Collection, Chicago, 1993, pp. 93-95 as workshop of Francesco Francia.
N. Roio, 'Boateri, Jacopo', in Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon, XI, Munich and Leipzig, 1995, p. 666, as Jacopo de' Boateri.
E. Negro and N. Roio, Francesco Francia e la sua scuola, Modena, 1998, p. 223, no. 118, as School of Francesco Francia.

Exhibited

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum, Loan Exhibition of Italian Paintings, 1915.
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Ryerson Gift, 1938.
Rockford, Illinois, Rockford Art Association, 1951.
Beloit, Wisconsin, Beloit College, 1952-1953.
Fort Wayne, Indiana, Fort Wayne Art School, 1955.

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Lot Essay

In 1910, F. Mason Perkins was the first to publish this painting, identifying it as a work of Francesco Francia (loc. cit.). After being called Jacopo de' Boateri by Venturi (loc. cit.), it was associated with the workshop Francia by Fredericksen and Zeri (loc. cit.). A painting with a similar composition, attributed to Francesco's son Giacomo, is in the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (inv. 1913.6.3). According to Negro and Roio (loc. cit.), the master himself may have contributed to the figure of the Virgin in the present painting and the hand of one of his sons may be identifiable in Saint Catherine.

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