The Virgin and Child seated on a plinth supported by angels, Saint Michael and other saints below

This well-preserved sheet brilliantly displays the evolution of Cades's drawing style from the late 1770s/early 1780s; the artist now favours the pen, which he uses with a perfectly controlled, but at the same time free and swirly manner. It may be compared to The Virgin, the infant Saint Marcus and another Saint, which displays a very similar style and dated 1779, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Inv. 1978-70-210; see M.T. Caracciolo, Giuseppe Cades, 1750-1799, et la Rome de son temps, Paris, 1992, no. 39, ill.) and furthermore to a drawing in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest (inv. 2506; ibid., no. 149, ill.). For more on the mount of this drawing, see note to lot 51.

We are grateful to Maria Teresa Caracciolo for her assistance in cataloguing this drawing.