Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness

Details

Studio of Guido Reni (Bologna 1575-1642)
Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
oil on canvas
54 x 37¼ in. (137.3 x 94.5 cm.)

Provenance

(Possibly) Johann Adam I Andreas, Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf (1657-1712), and by descent to
Josef Wenzel Karl, Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf (1696-1772), published as being in his gallery by V. Fanti in 1767 (loc. cit), and by descent to
Franz Josef I, Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf (1726-1781), published as being in his gallery by J. Dallinger in 1780 (loc. cit.), and by descent at the Garden Palace at Rossau (where recorded by Falke in 1873 and 1885, loc. cit.), until April 1927, when moved to the Liechtenstein City Palace, Vienna, until December 1944, when moved to Schloss Vaduz, Liechtenstein, until the present.

Literature

V. Fanti, Descrizzione completa di tutto ciò che ritrovasi nella galleria di pittura e scultura di Sua Altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao del S.R.I. Principe Regnante della casa di Lichtenstein, Vienna, 1767, p. 103, no. 520.
J. Dallinger, Description des Tableaux, et des Pièces de Sculpture, que renferme la Gallerie de son Altesse François Joseph Chef et Prince Regnant de la Maison de Liechtenstein, Vienna, 1780, pp. 172-3.
Sammlungskatalog, 1805, MS, Schloss Vaduz, Liechtenstein, no. 276.
G.F. Waagen, Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien, Vienna, 1866, I, p. 261.
J. Falke, Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Vienna, 1873, p. 10, no. 68.
J. Falke, Katalog der fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Vienna, 1885, p. 7, no. 37.
P. della Pergola, 'Reni, Guido', in U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, Leipzig, 1934, XXVIII, p. 164, as by Guido Reni.
S.D. Pepper, Guido Reni. A complete catalogue of his works with an introductory text, Oxford, 1984, p. 282, under no. 147, as a copy after the picture in Turin, Galleria Sabauda.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The composition derives from Reni's slightly smaller picture of the same subject, datable to 1635, in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin, and is recorded by Pepper (loc. cit.) as a copy. On the basis of photographs, Professor Andrea Emiliani (to whom we are grateful) has tentatively suggested an attribution to Simone Cantarini who was active in Reni's studio in the 1630s. Another version of the subject (Pepper, op. cit., no. 156, copy 4) was similarly given to Cantarini by Pepper at the time of its sale at Christie's, New York, 22 March 1978, lot 50.

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