Estimate
€ 14.000 - 20.000
Sold
€ 17.620
The price includes buyer's premium
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Information
127 x 87 cm
on the back wax seal with noble coat of arms
Provenance
The painting is a contemporary replica of the work of the same name by Orazio Borgianni in Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland.
The painter was very attached to this theme, of which several versions are known, including at least four of different sizes, recognized as autographs by Benedict Nicolson (B. Nicolson, The International Caravaggesque Movement , Oxford, 1979) and Gianni Papi (G. Papi, Orazio Borgianni , Soncino 1993). These are the aforementioned Edinburgh canvas (104 x 78 cm), an example in England, private collection (110 x 77 cm), a version already in the collection of Hermann Voss (96 x 71 cm, current location unknown) and one in Gelves, near Seville (267 x 158 cm).
An autographed version of the same composition, but in a smaller format (97 x 73 cm), was awarded by Christie's, New York on June 19, 2020, lot 34.
There is also an engraving of San Cristoforo , dedicated by Horace to his client Juan de Lezcano, secretary of the Spanish ambassador, Count Francisco de Castro.
In the work offered here we recognize the typical characteristics of Borgianni, namely the vibrant colorism of Venetian ancestry, the strong Caravaggesque chiaroscuro contrasts, the drama and monumentality of the figures; in particular, the gigantic Saint, almost incredulous, seems to bend under the weight of the small and miraculously heavier and heavier Child who overwhelmingly occupies the space, as if to want to overcome the limit of the figurative plane, thus invading the dimension of the spectator.
< p> In the light of these considerations the work can certainly be referred to the very close entourage of the artist in Rome or Spain, according to a suggestive hypothesis based on the presence of the sword with hilt of typical Spanish manufacture (detail absent in the other versions). < / p>