Portrait of Alessandro Ricasoli, aged four

Though painted portraits are rare in Sabatelli’s œuvre, the artist produced a series of drawn portraits between 1797 and 1810. The present one dates to 1808, when he was commissioned to sketch five members of the Ricasoli, a prominent patrician family in Florence (sold Christie's, Paris, 29 March 2012, lots 39-44). All drawn in pen and ink, the Ricasoli children would all lead ecclesiastical careers, with Luigi becoming secretary to the Jesuits in Rome. Sabatelli deftly captures the four-year-old’s youthful profile in his crisp and deliberate line work.