Studio of Guido Reni (Bologna 1575-1642)

This picture seems to be a studio version of a lost work. Its early popularity is attested to by the fact that an engraving of the work was made in 1606 by Vouillemont. Pepper noted that a preparatory drawing by Reni for the Virgin's head exists (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) and he lists four studio variants for the picture (see S. Pepper, Guido Reni. A Complete Catalogue of his Works, Oxford, 1984, B2, p. 294.) The present work is particularly close to the engraving, although it incorporates another figure in the form of the beautifully rendered putto drawing back the curtain. Reni returned to this subject in the fresco cycle of scenes from the Life of the Virgin, of 1610, in the Cappella dell'Annunciata in the Papal Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome.

This picture was formerly in the collection of Cardinal Fesch, for whom see the note to lot 126.