Lot Essay
A study, in reverse, for the picture of the same subject in the Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna, E. Negro and N. Roio, Giacomo Cavedone, Modena, 1996, no. 58, illustrated. The altarpiece was commissioned for the Monastery of San Girolamo della Certosa in Bologna by Giovanni Battista Capponi, Prior of the Monastery from 1587 to his death in 1614. The picture is dated by E. Negro and N. Roio slightly after the patron's death, to the same period as the pictures for the Oratory of San Rocco of 1616-8.
Cavedone's painting was recorded as early as 1666 by Masini, and later by Malvasia, as Tiarini, probably because of the paintings by Tiarini also commissioned by Capponi for the same church. Only in 1772 the picture given back to Cavedone by Marcello Oretti.
A drawing related to the head of Saint Anthelm, in reverse to the present drawing, is at Windsor, Negro and Roio, op. cit., no. 58.1., illustrated. Cavedone often worked out his compositions in reverse to the final painting, a practice he probably learned in the studio of the Carracci. Another instance of a drawing in reverse to the final painting was sold at Christie's, Monaco, 20 June 1994, lot 25, illustrated, and is related to The Vision of Beatified Jean de Sahagon, in the Church of San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna.
Cavedone's painting was recorded as early as 1666 by Masini, and later by Malvasia, as Tiarini, probably because of the paintings by Tiarini also commissioned by Capponi for the same church. Only in 1772 the picture given back to Cavedone by Marcello Oretti.
A drawing related to the head of Saint Anthelm, in reverse to the present drawing, is at Windsor, Negro and Roio, op. cit., no. 58.1., illustrated. Cavedone often worked out his compositions in reverse to the final painting, a practice he probably learned in the studio of the Carracci. Another instance of a drawing in reverse to the final painting was sold at Christie's, Monaco, 20 June 1994, lot 25, illustrated, and is related to The Vision of Beatified Jean de Sahagon, in the Church of San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna.