The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine

Bolognese painter and goldsmith Giacomo Francia was trained by his father Francesco Raibolini, known as Francia. Francesco's own training is not thoroughly documented, but he was heavily influenced by the soft, graceful forms and harmonious palettes of Lorenzo Costa and Pietro Perugino, a manner which would translate to his sons, Giacomo and Giulio, who assisted him in his burgeoning studio. When Francesco died in 1517, the brothers assumed responsibility for the family business and executed several altarpieces in collaboration, identifiable by the initials (I I) of their Latinised names (Iacobus and Iulius). The present painting bears the hallmarks of Giacomo's style; his calm, graceful figures are reverent in attitude, while the sweeping landscape beyond echoes those favoured by the Ferrarese School.

We are grateful to Emilio Negro and Nicosetta Roio for endorsing the attribution to Giacomo Francia in full, revising their earlier published opinion which was based on old black-and-white photographs of the painting (op. cit., 1998).