Guido Reni

Possibly owned by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (1595-1632) and listed in 1623 and 1633 inventories;
Acquired in Rome by Abbé Jean d'Estrées (1666-1718), Archbishop of Cambrai from 1716;
By whom sold to Philippe II, duc d'Orléans (1674-1723) and listed in his 1724 posthumous inventory (according to Stryienski);
Thence by descent to his son Louis, duc d'Orléans (1703-1752) and listed in his 1752 posthumous inventory (according to Stryienski.);
Thence by descent to his grandson Louis Philippe II Joseph d'Orléans, duc de Chartres, called 'Philippe Égalité' (1747-1793);
Orléans' sale, London, Mr. Bryan's Gallery, 26 December 1798, lot 36 (as 'Guido - St. Apollonia Martyr'), for 350 guineas to Troward;
With Walsh Porter, Esq.;
His deceased sale, London, Christie's, 14 April 1810, lot 14, for 346 guineas to Parson;
With George Watson-Taylor, M.P. (1771-1841), of Erlestoke Park, near Devizes, Wiltshire;
His sale ('The Collection of his Town Mansion, Cavendish Square'), London, Christie's, 14 June 1823, lot 54 (as 'Guido - The Martyrdom of St. Apollonia, on copper. An exquisite cabinet jewel, formerly of the Orleans collection. In the printed account of the contents of that famous Gallery, it is noticed, that this Picture was first brought from Rome, by the Cardinal d'Estrées, from whence it passed into the possession of the Regent), for 420 guineas to 'Count Woronzow', probably Count Semen (Or Semyon) Romanovich Worontsow (1744-1832);
Countess Woronzow, Villa Woronzow;
Her sale, Florence, Villa Woronzow, 28 April 1900, lot 15, to N. Stolypin;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 10 December 1986, lot 26;
There purchased by Richard L. Feigen;
By whom sold, ('Property from the Private Collection of Richard L. Feigen, New York'), London, Sotheby's, 9 July 2008, lot 72;
There purchased by the present owner.

British Institution, 1818, no. 40 (lent by George Watson-Taylor);
Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale; Guido Reni 1575-1642, 5 September - 5 November 1988, no. 34;
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Guido Reni 1575-1642, 11 December - 12 February 1989;
Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Guido Reni 1575-1642, 11 March - 14 May 1989, no. 27;
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum; Copper as Canvas. Two Centuries of Masterpeice Paintings on Copper 1575-1775, 19 December 1998 - 28 February 1999;
Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Copper as Canvas. Two Centuries of Masterpeice Paintings on Copper 1575-1775, 28 March - 14 June 1999;
The Hague, Mauritshuis, Copper as Canvas. Two Centuries of Masterpeice Paintings on Copper 1575-1775, 26 June - 22 August 1999, no. 47.

Dubois de Saint-Gelais, Description des Tableaux du Palais-Royal, second ed., 1737, no. 191;
A.J. d'Argenville, Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres, vol. II, 1762, p. 108;
J. Couché, La Galerie du Palais-Royal gravée d'après les tableaux des différentes écoles qui la composent, Paris 1786, vol. I, engraved by B.-A. Nicolet;
W. Buchanan, Memiors of Painitng..., 1824, vol. I, p. 94;
G. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London 1854, vol. II, Appendix B, p. 495, no. 9;
A. Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912, London 1913, vo. I, p. 458;
C. Stryienski, La Galerie du Régent Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, Paris 1913, p. 170, no. 253;
O. Kurz, "Guido Reni", in Jahrbuch des Kunsthistorischensammlungen in Wien, 1937, vol. II, p. 247;
Possibly K. Garas, "The Ludovisi Collection of Pictures in 1633 - II", in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CIX, no. 771, June 1967, p. 347, no. 224.;
E. Baccheschi, L'opera completa di Guido Reni, Milan 1971, p. 88, cat. no. 26c;
D.S. Pepper, Guido Reni, Oxford 1984, pp. 217-18, cat. no. 20, the engraving by Nicolet reproduced as plate 21;
D.S. Pepper, Guido Reni: L'opera completa, Novara 1988, p. 330, cat. no. 16, reproduced in colour plate VI;
D.S. Pepper, in Guido Reni 1575-1642, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale, 5 September - 5 November 1988, pp. 85-86, no. 34; Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 11 December 1988 - 12 February 1989; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum,11 March - 14 May 1989, p. 226, cat. no. 27, reproduced in colour;
R. Spear, "Re-viewing the 'Divine' Guido", in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXXI, no. 1034, May 1989, p. 370;
D.S. Pepper, "Guido Reni: a Review Reviewed" (with a replay by Richard E. Spear), in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXXII, no. 1044, March 1990, p. 221;
R. Spear, The "Divine" Guido. Religion, sex, money and art in the world of Guido Reni, New Haven and London 1997, pp. 373-374, footnote 77;
E. Peters Bowron, in Copper as Canvas. Two Centuries of Masterpiece Paintings on Copper 1575-1775, exhibition catalogue, Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, 19 December 1998 - 28 February 1999; Kansas, Nelson-Atkins Musuem of Art, 28 March  - 14 June 1999; The Hague, Mauritshuis, 2 June - 22 August 1999, pp. 262-263, cat. no. 47, reproduced in colour p. 265;
A. Henning, "The New Technique of Painting on Copper", in A. Henning & S. Schaefer eds., Captured Emotions; Baroque Painting in Bologna 1575-1725, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, December 2008, p. 26, reproduced on p. 27.

Engraved:
By Bénédict Alphonse (or Bernard Antoine) Nicolet (1743-1806), 1786 (for La Galerie du Palais-Royal).

This refined painting on copper by Guido Reni, one of the most influential painters of the 17^th century in Italy, is dateable to circa 1614 and constitutes an elegant reworking by the artist of an earlier theme.  Like other small-scale works on copper, it was probably commissioned by a sophisticated Roman patron. The painting at one time formed part of the illustrious collection of Philippe II, duc d’Orléans (1674-1723) and was also possibly once owned by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (1595-1632).