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Lot Essay
Although the first known work by Orazio Borgianni, Saint George in his study, signed and dated 1593, is still anchored in the Mannerist tradition - his pictures after this date demonstrate an entirely Caravaggesque style. The artist and biographer Baglione records in his Vite (1642) that there was even a personal rivalry between the two artists, which resulted in several fights. Borgianni must have studied the work of Bassano and Tintoretto as well, since their influence is echoed in his mature style. He probably visited Spain on two separate occasions, the first from c. 1598 until June 1603 and the second from 1605 to 1607. From 1607, he seems to have remained in Rome where he continued to profit from his Spanish protectors who supplied him with a constant flow of commissions.
Borgianni's later work, including this picture, shows the profound artistic influence of Caravaggio. This is evident, for example, in the strong chiaroscuro, and the rich impasto of the paint with which the highlights of the skin and the wrinkles of the hands and faces of Saint Joseph and Saint Anne are painted. This use of the texture of paint is particularly striking in the depiction of the white feathers of the dove.
Nicolson, who first published the picture in 1973, and Papi in his recent monograph on the artist, both regard this picture as the original on which two other autograph versions are based: one in a private collection and the other in the Fondazione Roberto Longhi, Florence. According to Nicolson, the three pictures were painted in close succession to each other c. 1615-16. Papi argues that there is a larger time span between each picture; thus he dates the present picture earlier, because it still demonstrates the artist's interest in the Venetian tradition, visible, for example, in the swift, impressionistic way in which the sleeve and veil of the Madonna are depicted. This charaterisitic is absent in the last, rather coarse, version in Florence, which Papi dates shortly before the end of the artist's life.
Borgianni's later work, including this picture, shows the profound artistic influence of Caravaggio. This is evident, for example, in the strong chiaroscuro, and the rich impasto of the paint with which the highlights of the skin and the wrinkles of the hands and faces of Saint Joseph and Saint Anne are painted. This use of the texture of paint is particularly striking in the depiction of the white feathers of the dove.
Nicolson, who first published the picture in 1973, and Papi in his recent monograph on the artist, both regard this picture as the original on which two other autograph versions are based: one in a private collection and the other in the Fondazione Roberto Longhi, Florence. According to Nicolson, the three pictures were painted in close succession to each other c. 1615-16. Papi argues that there is a larger time span between each picture; thus he dates the present picture earlier, because it still demonstrates the artist's interest in the Venetian tradition, visible, for example, in the swift, impressionistic way in which the sleeve and veil of the Madonna are depicted. This charaterisitic is absent in the last, rather coarse, version in Florence, which Papi dates shortly before the end of the artist's life.