Lot Essay
Two versions of this subject by Caravaggio are recorded. The picture first cited in the 1623 will of Giovanni Battista Mattei and then in subsequent family inventories, is thought to be the picture presently on loan to the National Gallery of Ireland.
Another version was recorded in 1630 in the inventory of Lanfranco Massa in Naples along with an Ecce Homo by Caravaggio and paintings by Ribera. During the first decades of the 17th century Lanfranco Massa acted as correspondent and procurator for the Doria family and in 1610 is known to have acted as intermediary between the artist and Marcantonio Doria in the acquisition of a Saint Ursula by Caravaggio (see Clovis Whitfield and Jane Martineau, catalogue of the exhibition, Paintings in Naples from Caravaggio to Giordano, Royal Academy, 2 Oct.-12Dec. 1982, p.132).
Another version was recorded in 1630 in the inventory of Lanfranco Massa in Naples along with an Ecce Homo by Caravaggio and paintings by Ribera. During the first decades of the 17th century Lanfranco Massa acted as correspondent and procurator for the Doria family and in 1610 is known to have acted as intermediary between the artist and Marcantonio Doria in the acquisition of a Saint Ursula by Caravaggio (see Clovis Whitfield and Jane Martineau, catalogue of the exhibition, Paintings in Naples from Caravaggio to Giordano, Royal Academy, 2 Oct.-12Dec. 1982, p.132).