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Lot Essay
ALTHOUGH SASSOFERRATO IS BEST KNOWN for his adaptations of works by Raphael, some of his most celebrated copies of earlier masters were based on prints after Bolognese seicento artists (for a full discussion see F. Russell, 'Sassoferrato and his Sources. A Study of Seicento Allegiance', The Burlington Magazine, CXIX, October 1977, pp. 684-700). This imposing Madonna and Child embracing is based on an etching by Guido Reni (fig. 1), who, along with Annibale Carracci and Francesco Albani, would provide the models for several of Sassoferrato's most successful compositions. However, of the seicento artists who influenced the painter's development, it was the classicism of Reni that drew the strongest response and it is even possible that Sassoferrato studied with the Bolognese master when he returned to Rome in 1628 (G. Vitaletti, Il Sassoferrato. Giambattista Salvi 1609-1685, Sassoferrato, 1990, pp. 37 ff).
Sassoferrato made a number of faithful copies after Reni's famous Madonna adoring the Sleeping Christ Child in the Galeria Doria Pamphili, Rome. However, unlike these copies (which are of comparable dimensions to the original), the present work is notable for the manner in which the artist successfully enlarges the scale of the composition substantially from the engraving, whilst preserving the essential intimacy and emotion of the original. As Russell observes, 'with these copies after Reni, Sassoferrato makes a serious and personal contribution to the tradition represented by his models. For in their new format the two compositions achieve new roles and become among the most effective religious images of their century' (op. cit., p. 699).
A version of this picture, of smaller dimensions (97.2 x 64 cm.), is in the National Gallery, London, and others are in Palazzo Bianco, Genoa, and Studio del Mosaico, Vatican, Rome. Like the National Gallery version, the present picture could be considered a late work.
Sassoferrato made a number of faithful copies after Reni's famous Madonna adoring the Sleeping Christ Child in the Galeria Doria Pamphili, Rome. However, unlike these copies (which are of comparable dimensions to the original), the present work is notable for the manner in which the artist successfully enlarges the scale of the composition substantially from the engraving, whilst preserving the essential intimacy and emotion of the original. As Russell observes, 'with these copies after Reni, Sassoferrato makes a serious and personal contribution to the tradition represented by his models. For in their new format the two compositions achieve new roles and become among the most effective religious images of their century' (op. cit., p. 699).
A version of this picture, of smaller dimensions (97.2 x 64 cm.), is in the National Gallery, London, and others are in Palazzo Bianco, Genoa, and Studio del Mosaico, Vatican, Rome. Like the National Gallery version, the present picture could be considered a late work.